A handful of cities have invested considerable time, energy, and tax-dollars into building an exciting new kind of public infrastructure only for it to be abandoned and fall into disuse shortly after completion. Like the ghost-town villages and crumbling stadiums of Olympic host cities, open data portals were built and celebrated only to be forgotten after the thrill of newness faded away. Local governments are reacting and responding to demands from their constituencies to be more open, accountable, and effective.
Today, many portals have become a cache of unorganized and aging government data. Far from the heralded hub of modern local government, open data portals are now yet another layer of government complexity purposeful only to a small and specialized set of people.
When portals are used, it’s by journalists whose job it is to sort through dozens of datasets before giving up and inevitably submitting an open-records request. Or by watchdogs, searching for scandals in pay schedules and personnel data. Not exactly the utopic front door to local government that was promised.
The President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD), Vuk Jeremić delivered a lecture at ADA University, Azerbaijan’s top-tier educational institution entitled "Geopolitics of the Balkans and How it Relates to the Caucasus”.
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Vuk Jeremić lectures at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna
At the invitation of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, one of the most prestigious and oldest schools on the European continent, CIRSD President Vuk Jeremić delivered a lecture entitled “(Geo)politics of the Balkans: The Revenge of History”, on February 7th, 2023.
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Prof. Sachs: “Sanctions against Russia ineffective and contrary to international law”
CIRSD had the privilege to host one of the world’s brightest minds and most famous economists – Prof. Dr Jeffrey Sachs in a live discussion titled "The winter of Our Discontent".
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Central Asia: The Age of Reform
The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) co-organized a conference on December 7, 2022, titled “Central Asia: The Age of Reform” at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, one of the most prestigious and oldest (1754) schools in Europe.
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