Post-colonial African leaders. Quite an eclectic bunch of statesmen that have ranged from military dictators to pan-African philosophers to global icons. Recent events have put two of them in the spotlight.

You wouldn't consider the Kingdom of Swaziland a hotbed for civil unrest, however this tiny nation of just over one million people has made the headlines for very important reasons.

Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide.

Available here

Why Democracy's endeavor to get people all over Africa talking about democracy has seen great success. In just a few months, our outreach initiative has organisations from all over Africa screening the films to various audiences.

The pictures in this blog come from a NGO in Ghana and from the Pan-African Universities Debating Championship. The latter organisation handed out the Why Democracy boxset as prizes to the winning team.

It has been a long time since the Democracy blog has been active but not to worry, Why Democracy? is still going to deliver fresh insightful takes on democracy. 

Today's blog provides a snapshot of global events and what has been written about them. And so, in no particular order...

Given the current downturn in global financial markets, many countries are tightening their purse strings and preparing for a difficult time ahead. For developed countries, this financial austerity is manageable.