Do the Egyptians really need democracy?
One might be forced to return to the question posed, this time with a view to the current situation in Egypt. Do the Egyptians really understand democracy? Do the Egyptians really need democracy? In...
View ArticleEurope’s guns, debt and corruption
This second of two essays on military spending and the EU crisis, explores the role of the European arms trade, corruption and the role of arms exporting countries in fuelling a debt crisis, and why...
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Is there any austerity in the UK?
The Coalition is not cutting the deficit, while many on the right argue that spending is rising. So what's the real picture? The director of centre-left think tank IPPR gives his analysis on whether...
View ArticleUK surveillance law: a warning, and a call for a different future
The British are being tracked, more than we have ever been. A new report sets out what this means for the everyday citizen, and calls for more targeted, more accountable surveillance laws. From the...
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No-go areas and arms deals
With a worsening human rights record that includes the alleged torture of both British and Emirati citizens, shouldn’t this visit also be a chance to raise issues of concern with the president of the...
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How the cookie crumbles
Vladimir Putin has long paid lip service to the notion that his government should address the problem of corruption. Is his new campaign for real, or will it be more of a shootout between corrupt...
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The youngest face of Italy’s old politics: Enrico Letta’s “grand coalition”
Does Enrico Letta's newly formed government have what it takes to get Italy out of its dire situation, or is it nothing but a new layer of paint on the crumbling house of Italian politics?New Italian...
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The sorry state of the Irish media
The story of free speech in Ireland today has moved on considerably from the past, but the political class believes that they can decide just how the public conversation should be conducted.RTE,...
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The genocide trial of Rios Montt
In March began the trial of ex-Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt, who is accused of having orchestrated genocide and crimes against humanity during his 1982-1983 rule. While the trial is an achievement in...
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Attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli: what now for Libya?
Foreign companies and investors already unsure about returning to Libya will be further dissuaded by this targeting of a foreign embassy in the heart of Tripoli.On April 23, a car bomb exploded at 7am...
View ArticleThis week's window on the Middle East - April 29, 2013
Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week, Attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli: what now for Libya? Attack...
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A new dawn for the Unions? Frances O’Grady and economic democracy
The TUC’s new General Secretary seems to represent real change in the 'pale, male, stale' world of British unions. But can she shake them up in policy terms, and draw in the energy of a disparate...
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The Philippine peace agreement: let’s maintain diligence
Last year, the Philippine government struck a historic peace deal with the Islamist rebels. But the devil is in the details, which have yet to be agreed upon. Who will make sure they create a just and...
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The only socialism we will ever know?
Looking for signs of life and the difference that was made, surely that dreary grey oblong could not have been the spiritual home of the 99%? But it was and it did.“The goodness is in the work as much...
View ArticleThe NPT’s “unacceptable and continuous failure”: Egypt walks out
On April 29th Egypt’s diplomats walked out of the NPT Conference in protest at the lack of progress in establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, thereby putting the...
View ArticleThe crisis of European centre-left parties: on Novara Radio
The Novara radio show discusses the crisis of nominally left social democratic parties in Europe since 2008. For more Novara radio episodes, go to the Novara Media website.
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On its own terms: political sentiment in Scottish writing
The controversy over Alasdair Gray’s contribution to a recent collection of essays on Scottish independence points to the often fraught and false relationship between the arts and politics. This is the...
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The government inspectors
Last November a law was passed in Russia requiring foreign-funded NGOs to register as ‘foreign agents’. This triggered a massive and unwieldy inspection programme, which has hit everyone from human...
View ArticleBritain may squander human rights for the sake of deporting Abu Qatada
Cameron threatens to 'temporarily withdraw' from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to expedite radical cleric's deportation. The worst kind of populist politics drives Britain towards...
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Republicanism and tax justice
Republicans can offer the principles needed to work towards a tax system built for the global common good.The republican commitment to the view that people can be at liberty only when they are secure –...
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