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Summer is cancelled for Russia’s bureaucrats – but will they play ball?
October is Russia’s local election month, and some regions have just elected governors for the first time in seven years, part of an electoral reform designed to appease the opposition. But as Mikhail...
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Drones: theirs and ours
Vocal as they are about being bombed from the sky, most Pakistanis – including many on the Left – suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the human (Muslim) drone, says Pervez Hoodbhoy A drone – of...
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The US elections: a view from Latin America
It has been this year's most notable absentee: whatever happened to Latin America as a theme in the presidential campaign?A great paradox in Tuesday’s United States elections is that of the growing...
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The power of Merkiavelli : Angela Merkel’s hesitation in the Euro-crisis
Hesitation as a means of coercion – that is Merkiavelli’s method. Only one fate is worse than being overwhelmed by German money and that is not being overwhelmed by German money. Power grounded in the...
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Poland and the US elections: respect for an ally
Poland is less engaged with this American election than on previous occasions. But its people and elites are still viewing the contest and its candidates with a wary eye that reflects their domestic...
View ArticleThe political correctness of drone activism
Soft, anti-war interventions can end up endorsing conservative politics, if they are not strategically astute, says Afiya Shehrbano Zia Pakistan’s foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, in her recent...
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Orientalism and the modernisation of sexuality
In the last two decades gendered and sexual ‘others’ have been ‘included’ in citizenship, as new sexual rights–bearing subjects. To what extent is this a Euro-American configuration within political...
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Political subjectivity in Edmund Burke’s India and liberal multiculturalism
Edmund Burke’s speeches on India illustrate the emergence of the orientalised political subject. Traces of this in the present can be seen through the relationship between British multiculturalism and...
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Citizenship after orientalism - an introduction
Introducing this week's guest theme. Engin Isin holds a Chair in Citizenship and is Professor of Politics in Politics and International Studies (POLIS) at the Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open...
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Let Vietnam live!
John Berger was in England for Oxford Vietnam Week (Jan. 25 – 31, 1967), when he said, ‘The simple issue around which all the history of the rest of the century will concentrate: are we in the...
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Art and Property Now: Room 1: A Painter of Our Time
Art and Property Now is an exhibition exploring John Berger’s life as storyteller, artist and critic. You can see it at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, London, until November 10, 2012. This week, to...
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United colours of the American elections - in three continents
"Many temples in South India held prayers for Obama’s victory in the 2008 elections. Haven’t heard of any this time round. Here is one from me, after four encounters on three continents."Large white...
View ArticleTaking up the gauntlet in the UK: the only real Big Society is the...
The uncritical understanding of what constitutes a ‘community’ and the failure to grasp what forms of citizen self-government are possible in current conditions is what betrays the intellectual...
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Latin America in a post-development era: an interview with Arturo Escobar
Colombian-American anthropologist Arturo Escobar is one of Latin America's leading voices on post-development theory and political ecology. In this interview, he outlines development paths for the...
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How small countries can save the European project: the rise of the...
The European project is failing. It is time to consider a new theoretical model beyond the nation-state: smaller, localized communities, "habitat-nations", are the building blocks for a revitalized and...
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Will Catalonia secede?
The independentist inclinations of Catalonia, Scotland or Flanders define a dominant political zeitgeist in Europe – the dismantling of large territorial units. And this is why they will ultimately...
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The American election: a view from Down Under
As a somewhat reluctant member of the American orbit in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia carefully watches the election – amused but slightly worried by its "cranks and crazies" (as the Australian...
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Art and Property Now: Room 2: Ways of Seeing and G at 40
Art and Property Now is an exhibition exploring John Berger’s life as storyteller, artist and critic. You can see it at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, London, until November 10, 2012. This week, to...
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The US 2012 Election and China: why a real dialogue about human rights will...
Despite a prominent presence in the campaign, US policy towards China is very unlikely to change - especially on the hyper-sensitive topic of human rights.Scholars and commentators have been very...
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Once more, without passion?
In a few hours, the world will finally know if Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will be the next President of the United States. Our 'How it looks from here' series concludes with a tour d'horizon around...
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