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IRI Repository of Governmental Absurdities

Welcome to IRI's online repository of governmental absurdities! We are collecting here absurdities from all around the world, although the country focus obviously reflects nationality and professional expertise of our MBA students -- the prime suppliers of the cases. We invite you, however, to contribute to the repository by submitting absurdities you encounter at IRI@ceubusiness.org

We hope that with time, this repository will become a useful collection of 'DON'Ts' for practitioners and scholars alike. 

 

India 2012: Bribe for tea and snacks (by Indranil Chakraborty, MBA23)

May 17, 2012
in

I hereby describe an incident I experienced when I subscribed to the college for my Bachelors in 1999, enrolling for the Bachelor of Science (Bsc) program.

The college was a government college and was different from the English Medium School environment where I had studied for the previous 14 years.

Albania 2012: Diploma disease and bad policy (by anonomous participant)

May 17, 2012
in
 

In a speech before the Albanian Parliament, Prime Minister Berisha presented his 2009 Project Budget, of which a major part concerned the liberalization of higher educational system. The total funds allocated to education in 2009 doubled to $100 million. The previous Socialist government was condemned for reducing the education funds from 4.2% to 2.6% of total GDP. Although in absolute terms these funds were the highest, as a percentage of total budget ($5 billion) this number stood at 2%.

Hungary 2012: Diploma disease and bad policy (by Raham Madani, MBA23)

May 17, 2012
in

The governmental absurdity I am writing about is an indirect experience which I came across in a conversation that I had with a friend of mine. She is working at one of the background institutions of the Hungarian Ministry of National Development.

South Africa 2012: Dirty electricity (by Taeke Nazimande, MBA23)

May 17, 2012
in

Eskom, South African electricity supplier, state owned enterprise which is tasked to provide electricity to the whole country, borrowed US$3.75 billion from the World Bank to construct coal-fired power stations. As a shareholder the Government covered the remaining balance of US$16.6 billion.

Poland 2012: My big fat Iranian wedding (by anonymous participant)

May 17, 2012
in

My future wife and I both met as students in Budapest, Hungary. We decided to get married and investigated about the possibilities.

Some background info about us:

I am a male Polish citizen; my future wife is from Iran (not part of the EU, considered a 3rd country).

I figured that it should not be too difficult to get married in Poland, given that I am Polish.

Georgia 2012: Municipal waste collection fees (by Oliko Zedelashvili, MBA23)

May 17, 2012
in

I would like to draw your attention on the law that was enforced on 1 July, 2011 in Georgia. Based on the public opinion (mine as well) this is really an absurd law. This law is regulating the fee for municipal waste collection services that will be tied to the electricity bill and will be calculated based on the used amount of the electricity per month.

Italy 2012: The oldest job in the world is a fiscal limbo (by anonymous participant)

May 17, 2012
in

In Italy, last February, quite an interesting case made it to the headlines, and in particular to a TV news show focusing on investigating into absurdities of Italian politics, political life, governance and media.

Following the crisis of the Euro-zone, Prime Minister Monti took office after PM Berlusconi’s resignation, resolute to implementing fiscal and structural reforms enabling Italy to avoid the default.

Among the reforms proposed and passed by the new government, was the simplification of the company registration procedure for young professionals aged under 35, and a

USA 2012: State of Arizona’s spending down corrections (by Agnes Andor, MBA23)

May 17, 2012
in

The first position that I held upon graduating from college was with the State of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security. As a state employee, I witnessed many absurdities.

France 2010: French ever-postponed retirement reform (by Loic Kobes)

Jun 3, 2011
in

France has never been a reformist country. Since 1798, people were eager to go down in the street and demonstrate instead of sitting together around a table and trying to find a compromise. And the government used to ignore citizens' voice. Do things have changed in 2010? Unfortunately not!

Venezuela 2010: Expropriation -- a national absurdity (by Daniel Mata, MBA22)

Jun 3, 2011
in

On October 2010, Hugo Chavez expropriated the US-owned glass manufacturer Owens Illinois. With more than 4 years of systematic expropriations, president Chavez has managed to reduce the private sector of Venezuela. 762 expropriations were executed between 2005 and 2009, with 374 cases registered in 2009 (49% of the total).