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Britain 'shines light of transparency' on secret lobbying. Just kidding.
David Cameron's lobbying bill exposes the hollowness of his muscular claims about cracking down on crony capitalism. Britain's democracy remains under corporate capture.Government wants to register...
View ArticlePutting development to rights: a post-2015 agenda
A lesson of the last decade's work on the Millennium Development Goals is the need to rethink current approaches to development, says David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch. The key...
View ArticleGreens - the UKIP of the left?
We already have a radical left alternative to UKIP's unpleasant populism, but that doesn't mean there is nothing to learn from them. Over the past 12 months, there have been repeated calls for a ' UKIP...
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East end boys and west end boys: does gentrification lead to homophobia?
Three men recently attacked my date and I in London's gay village Soho. They threw coins and shouted "faggot". I think gentrification partly prompted their resentment. The LGBT rainbow flag hangs over...
View ArticleHow do we plan editorial partnerships?
The third in our series of blogs about openDemocracy's editorial partnerships programme. We walk you through how a partnership evolves from an idea emailed to us through a planned editorial...
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To raise funds, Indian rights groups must emulate the country’s newest...
Donations by ordinary citizens to India’s newest political party, the AAP, prove that Indians can and will donate to important causes. Indian rights groups can tap in to this generosity, but only if...
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Thank You Pete Seeger
“We are not afraid…we shall all be free.” Pete Seeger died last night, but the power of his music lives on. One activist pays tribute to another.A young Pete Seeger. Credit: http://peteseeger.net. All...
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The resilience of neoliberal urbanism
Resilience, the latest urban policy and think tank buzzword extolled upon the worlds urban dwellers, operates as an insidious alias to dispossession and territorial stigmatisation.Yesterday morning...
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How was he to know? The cracking of the Ukraine regime
Ukraine’s parliament has abandoned the law to curb public protests only recently introduced and the prime minister has resigned. What lies behind these dramatic events?The nation against the system:...
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The chaos theory of Italian politics
With four months to go before the European elections, making predictions on their results would be a tall order anywhere. More so in Italy—a country where politics often defy any notion of linearity....
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The politics of French-bashing
Bashing everything French is in fashion these days, but one would be better advised to take these attacks by the US and UK media with a pinch of salt.The Economist. All rights reserved.In the...
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A Cuban diary
WhichwayshouldCubalookforitsfuture– northorsouth? Ormightit, throughtrialanderror, findadifferentpaththatcouldhavelessonsforallofus?At a dull moment in the baseball match between Pinar del Rio and...
View ArticleGDP turns 80. Time to retire!
As GDP systematically disregards key sectors in the economy and neglects critical costs, no reasonable businessman would use it to run a company.The gross domestic product (GDP) has just turned eighty....
View ArticleWorldwide inequality
The advocates of market fundamentalism have sought to close down totally the intellectual space for enquiry and discourse. But a more just and humane model of development, based on equitable...
View ArticleRegional integration in the Global South: triumph or grandstanding?
The fact that the benefits of global free trade are not particularly equitably shared across geographies is one of the reasons why regional integration has caught the fancy of leaders in the global...
View ArticleWelfare benefits are calculated by political objectives not empirical...
"Humans as persons of necessity exist in social relationships." Adequacy of Minimum Income Schemes is a debate that is gaining traction across the EU.Benefit levels in Britain reflect political...
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Does Jordan need nuclear energy?
Jordan hopes to become self-reliant with the creation of two nuclear power plants. However, in the future, there are dual challenges in the form of cost and safety.With greenhouse gases increasingly...
View ArticleUAE's political show trials
The latest trial saw 20 Egyptians and 10 Emiratis found guilty in a process marred by a litany of human rights and fair trial violations.The widening influence of security services, which act with...
View ArticleResist government’s obsession with men in uniform
The United Kingdom’s over-reliance on policing, prosecution and punishment is socially harmful and economically wasteful. There are more just and effective ways to make us safer.After its bruising...
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The surprising success of the Tunisian parliament
Surrounded by the pressure of Islamists and civil activists, Tunisia’s deputies have managed to achieve something unique in the Arab world: making the parliament the centrepiece of political discourse...
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