World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

Greece and the troika have apparently come to an agreement to extend Greece’s current debt repayment program for another 4 months.  Both sides are claiming victory in the stand-off, but it is hard to tell which side had the advantage.  Greece still has to submit a plan to conform to the repayment program on Monday, and those details will tell us how many concessions (if any) Greece was able to gain.  The British-based blog, Open Europe, has a very succinct overview of where Greece and the troika stood firm and made concessions.  The German Finance Minister, Schaeuble, made the following comment, however, which gives a rough idea of how the troika regards the outcome: “Greeks certainly will have a difficult time to explain the deal to their voters.”

Curiously, the agreement was reached even as the number of Germans living below the poverty line has reached the highest level ever recorded in the reunified Germany.  However, even as Germany  pushes very hard for austerity in Greece, the Washington Post suggests that “In certain cases, unemployment benefits may indeed be higher than salaries.”  Moreover, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development did a study of hours worked in various countries in 2011.   Compare the average hours worked in Greece and Germany.  The key to understanding this paradox is that Germany can offer strong welfare benefits even while its workers work fewer hours because its workers are more productive than Greek workers.  If this conclusion is  true, then austerity is not the solution to Greece’s problems.  The solution lies in making Greek workers more productive.

There are about 20,000 foreign fighters who have gone to live in the Islamic State, of which about 550 are women.  It is difficult to determine the motives of these foreign fighters, but The Guardian has been able to interview some who have thought about going to the Islamic State.  The results are suggestive but hardly conclusive in such a small sample.