Romanian media is in a sad state, with newspapers losing stamina by the day and television channels shamelessly blasting the political messages favored by their owners. Independent journalism still exists, but can it reach beyond the more educated and resourceful?

After serving in the US Army, and later as a diplomat, Colonel Ann Wright resigned her position in opposition to the US invasion of Iraq, 2003. She explains her opposition to the use of drones, and why any demilitarism plan for the planet must begin with the United States

Arendt, Jefferson and Maitland are three great thinkers who all shared a passion for the power of local democracy, its ability to bridge the distance of representation. As our political system breaks down, it's an idea we must consider once again.

In order to vote for peace, we must first vote for voting systems which are 'peace-ful'. Peter Emerson argues for consensus voting which allows for differences but mutual respect, is inclusive, accurate, and very democratic

Security company G4S and its executives have got rich dismantling public services.

Three years after the ECHR's decision in Oršuš and Others v. Croatia found "separate but equal" education to be unconstitutional, the Roma Education Fund traveled to Međimurje County in Croatia to see how the integration of Croat and Roma schoolchildren had progressed.

Celebrations to mark the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war perform the function of collective forgetting. If the country looked back at recommendations made in the past, Sri Lankans might understand better how to go forward.

Since 2000, activist groups across India have sought to defend slum communities from dispossession in favour of 'participatory' resettlement on the urban periphery. The popularity of such reasoning has lead to the myth that squatters prefer resettlement to illegality, denying squatters a right to remain and masking the real, everyday exclusions in the lives of the resettled.

Recent calls for 'renewed' identities in the UK mean little so long as they fail to assess the role of the state in a multicultural society. Certainly, a fundamental recognition is needed: that it is easier to be a global citizen when you are confident in the fulfilment of your rights as a national citizen.

The attempt on May 18th to get the Afghan parliament to ratify a key law on violence against women ended in a fiasco and has been angrily dismissed as the politicking of a single ambitious female politician. But the controversies around the EVAW law show that there are no perfect strategies available to women activists in Afghanistan.

Though interreligious violence in Sri Lanka is not new, the emergence of the well-organized, well-connected Buddhist radical group reflects a broader problem today - the alarming shortage of critical and constructive public debate.

The social fabric of a group is woven, in the first place, by the efforts of women. After war, the surest way to rebuild society is to protect and empower those who will re-weave the torn social fabric if given half a chance to do so: the women.

Venezuela's presidential election presents the United States with a historic choice, says Juan Gabriel Tokatlian.

On the anniversary of the 26-year civil war, the Sri Lankan state celebrates its 2009 victory while Tamils mark the bloody nadir of the campaign to systematically dismantle the Tamil nation - one which continues today.

With so many conflicting interpretations of what post-crisis Europe should look like, it is easy to forget that another Europe will only come by reconciling the people across the continent, through initiatives and institutions that sew up a broken social fabric.

Private Eye's Richard Brooks has released a new book, The Great Tax Robbery, reviewed here by a former colleague. How did HMRC come to be 'captured' by big money, and why is government doing so little to correct it?

Recent protest rallies and continuing opposition sentiment have provoked the Kremlin into reform.  The first part of the process sees the partial return of regional governor elections, abandoned nine years ago in favour of appointment by the president. Democractic Russia should be very wary of the changes, thinks Grigorii Golosov

Gender equality is on the rise amongst the British elite. But outside of this bubble, women are suffering disproportionately from austerity and its fall-out.

Responding to Stuart Weir's recent article, Damian Hockney says the EU's supposed benefits are as illusory as the supposed damages the UK would suffer from leaving.

The patriarchal framework of justice which reflects gendered stereotypes, cultural and traditional prejudice has to change. Whilst there is slow progress in implementation, international law is drifting inexorably into recognising the integrated role of human rights in addressing sexual violence, Madeleine Rees analyses how this can be done