Essays & News

The old “Great Game,’’ dating back to the 19th century struggle over Central Asia and Russian access to the Indian Ocean, is experiencing a renaissance. Then, the Russian Empire started to gain control in Central Asia from the north and the west, while the British Empire approached from the south, through the Indian subcontinent. The […]

XVI. INTERNATIONAL VERNON SMITH PRIZE 2023 Vernon Smith Prize is an essay competition for the advancement of Austrian Economics – sponsored and organized by the European Center for Austrian Economics Foundation (www.ecaef.li), Vaduz (Principality of Liechtenstein). Topic for 2023: “The Rule of Law. It’s Meaning and Purpose” Extended deadline for the essays: November 30, 2023. […]

A terrible earthquake struck southeastern Turkey and Syria on February 6, killing at least 40,000 people as the search for victims goes on and casualties are sure to mount. Infrastructure, including thousands of homes, has been destroyed in many towns and villages. Information on the disaster in Syria is more limited. Access for relief organizations and delivery of […]

Although terms such as justice, democracy or the Rule of Law are understandable to most of us, they have been drained of their clear meaning by the addition of the politically explosive and thus very likely so common and pervasive word ‘social’. Who knows how e.g. Social Justice can ever be defined? Or what might […]

“… if thought corrupts language, language corrupts thought.”  Jonas Trappe Third Prize in Vernon Smith Prize Contest 2022.  Abstract Language is one of the most fundamental achievements in human history. Language in all its manifestations, in the choice of words, the grammar, the style of its speakers, tells the story of a society. Language evolved […]