The politics of piety and secularism

In this video interview from the Oecumene project's second symposium, Saba Mahmood discusses Malala Yousufzai, women's reform movements in the Middle East and the politics of piety.

Religious liberty, the minority problem and geopolitics

In a keynote lecture from the Oecumene project's second symposium, Saba Mahmood shows that religious liberty is a mechanism of statecraft and discusses the implications for religious minority populations.

The Italian government's doomed quest for stability

When the only thing holding a coalition together is fear of the voters, instability is just around the corner. 

Britain's housing crisis: on Novara Radio

We need homes, but why growth? The Novara radio show discusses the housing crisis in Britain. For more Novara radio episodes, go to the Novara Media website.

Cyprus: Divided by history, united by austerity

A political settlement to the Cyprus dispute is no longer just a romantic fantasy; it may be the only way out of the country's current economic crisis.

When cooperation is collaboration

How should liberal Russians interact with an increasingly illiberal regime? Writer and Putin critic Grigory Chkhartishvili (a.k.a Boris Akunin) delivered a simple message at yesterday's opposition rally in Moscow.

A financial transaction tax for Europe

A tax on financial transactions in Europe could reduce harmful speculation and help restore some political control over the markets. So why don't we have one yet?

Failed cities?

Everyday life in some western cities is often more dangerous than living in so-called 'failed states'. Is it thus time to re-scale security analysis?

Careful what you wish for: thinking through the neoliberal nation

The destructive power of neoliberal globalization has prompted renewed interest in nationalism on the left. But the legacies of empire and the political nature of the neoliberal project itself suggest that enthusiasm for English nationalism needs to be tempered with a sober analysis of its unintended political consequences.

What next for libel reform in Britain?

Recent reforms to UK libel law look set to encouarge greater freedom of expression. The coming months will be pivotal in determining how they are put into practice. 

What stops the UK protecting victims of trafficking?

How we’ve managed to make protecting trafficking victims so complicated.

Deorientalizing citizenship? An introduction to the second Oecumene symposium

In the first of a series of videos from the Oecumene project's second symposium on citizenship, orientalism and colonialism, Engin Isin discusses the major themes addressed in the symposium and outlines the future for the project

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up

Simply put, 'another Europe' must be able to suggest alternatives that make sense to the majority of the citizens across the continent.

Walter Mignolo on orientalism and occidentalism

In this interview from the Oecumene project's second symposium, Walter Mignolo introduces his thinking on de-colonial political subjectivity

The future is ‘smart’ but is it equal? African women’s digital agency

As mobile and smartphone use expands across Africa, Fatimah Kelleher asks what role African women play in digital futures, and how we build a more egalitarian digital present where African women can fully use and become more active in technological innovation.

UK immigration control: children in extreme distress

Alarming numbers of parents are being separated from their children indefinitely in the UK for the purposes of immigration control. It is difficult to imagine any other situation where children could have such scant attention paid to their welfare, says Sarah Campbell. 

Spain: redefining democracy?

The Spanish prefer to describe themselves as picaresque or roguish, but the arrogance of the rich and endemic corruption in post-Franco Spain is changing attitudes.  Liz Cooper says that volcanic change is on the way 

NPT: toothless in the face of real world dangers

The core purpose of the NPT was security and the prevention of nuclear war, but the esoteric diplomacy of the current regime has become too far removed from the dangerous and messy world of today’s nuclear risks and ambitions. Rebecca Johnson reports at the close of the NPT meeting in Geneva

President Budimir of Bosnia arrested on charges of corruption

Accused of receiving bribes to pardon convicts, the President of Bosnia is one of a number of senior officials arrested on the orders of Bosnia's State Prosecutor’s Office

Diary of a dancer

Russian ballet dancers used to defect to the West, but two years ago Xander Parish left the Royal Ballet for St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Ballet. Extracts from his diary, from his first Giselle in St Petersburg to Scheherezade in Abu Dhabi, give a vivid illustration of the life of a dancer

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.