Re-imagining Israel as a diaspora for all
Judith Butler pursues a similar path to Hannah Arendt in her recent Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism– making a series of revised and extended contributions to the debate on Israeli...
View ArticleHaiti, cholera and the UN: the case for isolation vs. infection
Rashmee Roshan Lall www.rashmee.com former editor of The Sunday Times of India and BBC World Service presenter, has lived and worked in five countries in the last five years. She is now in Port au...
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The politics of neglect in post-Mubarak Cairo
The politics of neglect which has long governed Cairo's expansive informal spaces looks set to remain well into the post-Mubarak era.Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood backed government of President...
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Development and dissent in China's 'urban age'
As China enters an 'urban age' for the first time in its entire history, a new set of urban conflicts over identity, development and inclusion are emerging across the country. The sight of houses...
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Why I chose to give my vote to a Palestinian
To protest against what they see as unjust exclusion, some Israeli citizens have given their vote to Palestinians who couldn't make their voices heard in the January 2013 elections. One of these...
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China’s quiet splash in the post-Soviet space
China’s steadily growing economic expansion throughout the world is a cause of concern for many governments. Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia are no longer so dependent on Moscow and China is quietly...
View ArticleShahbagh: what revolution, whose revolution?
The protests in Shahbagh errupted apparently spontaneously in response to the first verdict handed down by Bangladesh's domestic tribunal for war crimes committed during the war of independence in...
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Sowing the seeds of an Italian spring
The Italian election resulted in a deadlock with no clear winner. But while Italy is stuck between politics as usual and a sterile protest vote, the seeds of a ‘liberal revolution’ have discretely been...
View ArticleThe ‘politics of consensus’ in Nepal
The battle between consensus politics and majoritarian politics has not only brought Nepalese politics to a standstill, but has extended a turbulent political transition into an uncertain future. The...
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The Alexei German I knew
Last week, Russians bid farewell to a man many considered to be the country’s greatest living filmmaker. Largely under-appreciated in the West, Alexei German’s films delighted in their complexity,...
View ArticleInternational courts: justice vs politics
The tribunals judging crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia were intended to deliver justice for victims of genocide. But several recent cases suggest that politics may be getting in the way, says...
View ArticleSaudi Arabia and Qatar ratchet up sectarian and ethnic tensions In Iraq
Iraq, a decade after the US-led invasion and one year after the end of the US occupation is grappling not merely with an escalating sectarian crisis between the Shia-led government and an increasingly...
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Freedom of Information in England - to expand or retract?
With increased use of outsourcing, particularly in the NHS, campaigners want to bring private contractors under FoI legislation. At the same time the government is considering restricting access to...
View ArticleMedia regulation in the UK - a response to David Elstein
Media is evolving and converging. Regulation should be simple, cohesive, and it must protect the rich diversity of voices and mediums currently enjoyed. It is economic rather than regulatory dangers...
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Apocalypse now
The forced resignation of Duma deputies accused of owning property they had not declared shows Vladimir Putin trying, in the same way as his illustrious forebear Josef Stalin, to purge the ranks. But...
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The Front of the Ordinary Man
In the wake of the Italian elections, this excerpt from ‘Stagioni del populismo italiano’ by Gianni Riotta examines populism in Italy’s political past and present. How did Guglielmo Giannini’s...
View ArticleSplit of a soul: when politics shoots at culture
The 2011 referendum granting South Sudan independence served as a decisive verdict on the history of decades-long civil war as well as the foundational tenets of the modern international community....
View ArticleThe battle over UK press regulation: Nigel Warner joins our discussion
Last week, David Elstein, chairman of the Broadcasting Policy Group and openDemocracy, criticised two key proposals on press regulation following the Leveson Report. Here is his piece, published with...
View ArticleA shot at utopia: assessing Lebanon's challenges in the race for...
Lebanon's plans to harnass the vast oil and gas reserves off its shores already reveal familiar echoes of past internal divisions and external conflicts. But is this finally a chance for Lebanon to...
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Thank you for getting us halfway there - only £24,000 to go
Our Editor-in-Chief opens our campaign blog and pays tribute to the magnificent response so far to #KeepODopenDear supporters,Since we launched the public part of our urgent £250,000 appeal last week,...
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