“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

About Nick Mahony

Nick Mahony is a researcher at the Open University who explores contemporary publics and emerging forms of democratic culture. He is currently developing a project called Creating Publics that explores the politics of public engagement and, with John Clarke, has recently been investigating how different contemporary understandings of crisis relate to alternative ways of being public.

Articles by Nick Mahony

Creating publics, opening democracies: introducing the week

Susan Pell, Nick Mahony, John Clarke, and Liza Griffin 1 October 2012

Calls for democracy echo around us, but what kind of democracy are people calling for? Some focus on the accountability of government to represent the people, while others are demanding new forms of access to democratic participation. Both of these demands hinge on another idea: publicness - that is, how issues are made visible as questions of collective concern, how resources are shared and how collective decisions are made.

Public crises, public futures

Nick Mahony and John Clarke 23 February 2012

We need to develop new understandings of public action, public culture, public space and the public sphere and what impact it has on these when people see themselves as in crisis.

This week's editor

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

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

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Can Europe Make It?

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Arab Awakening

In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world.

"As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS

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Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East

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About Nick Mahony

Articles by Nick Mahony

Creating publics, opening democracies: introducing the week

Public crises, public futures

This week's editor

Europe from the bottom up

European debate

Democratic Wealth

Nuclear non-proliferation

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

The media in Europe

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