democracy & power

Control over people's lives is shifting beyond the grasp of traditional institutions. Democracy is embraced as a vision, but can be endlessly frustrated or disappointing in practice.
Saturday 11th February

Japan, the earthquake and the media

Wataru Sawamura, 11 February 2012
The worst disaster in Japan since the second world war hit the country's north-east coastal region on 11 March 2011. The combination of tsunami and nuclear crisis presented the media with great practical problems and ethical concerns. Wataru Sawamura, an experienced journalist with the leading newspaper the Asahi Shimbun, reflects on how he and his colleagues sought to fulfil their professional responsibilities as the tragedy unfolded.
Friday 10th February

Democracy for all? Minority rights and democratisation

Mark Salter, 10 February 2012
The challenge of accommodating and promoting the rights of ethnic, religious and other minorities tends to emerge whenever a formerly authoritarian country begins to move towards democracy. It is faced today as the middle east and north Africa embarks on its own democratic transition. The region could be aided in the endeavour by learning lessons from earlier experience in countries such as Indonesia, says Mark Salter.

Syem Saleem Shahzad: death of a journalist

Nick Fielding, 10 February 2012
The Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad made both friends and enemies in the course of his detailed reporting of Islamist groups and insurgencies in the country. An official report on his abduction and murder in May 2011 may leave key questions unanswered, says Nick Fielding, but read carefully and in context it brings the truth of his end closer.
Thursday 9th February

Colombia, a state of flux

Adam Isacson, 9 February 2012
A decade of violence and insecurity has deeply marked Colombia's society, politics and institutions. For Colombia to move on, its beleaguered yet independent justice system will have a vital role to play, says Adam Isacson.

The Arab revolts in year two

Volker Perthes, 9 February 2012
The uprisings across the Arab world are becoming more complex and variable as they enter their second year. This makes it all the more important to identify their main dynamics, says Volker Perthes.
Wednesday 8th February

The Left and Israel: a tortured path

Colin Shindler, 8 February 2012
The attitudes of the political left, including left-wing Jews, to Israel have varied greatly across the state's six decades. Loyalties acquired before or independent of Israel's foundation - to the Soviet Union, or to the idea of revolution - have often played a part in shaping them, says Colin Shindler.

China's elite: a language deficit

Kerry Brown, 8 February 2012
Beijing is concerned by Washington's more assertive regional policy in Asia. But here as elsewhere its inability to talk to the rest of the world in a natural way blunts its capacity to respond, says Kerry Brown.

Hungary: democracy through twilight

Anton Pelinka, 8 February 2012
The sweeping reform programme of Viktor Orbán's Hungarian government is provoking alarm among its domestic critics and European partners alike. But its economic policies as well as its political ambitions deserve to be put under the microscope, says Anton Pelinka.

Baltasar Garzón, the politics of justice

Pia Navazo, 8 February 2012
The effort by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón to investigate killings of civilians during the era of General Franco’s dictatorship has made him a legal target. The process raises profound legal and moral issues, says Pia Navazo.
Tuesday 7th February

Taiwan's election, and the need for nuance

LC Russell Hsiao and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, 7 February 2012
Taiwan's presidential election saw the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou win another four-year term in office over his opponent Tsai Ing-wen. But the interpretation of this outcome by Washington and Beijing misses an important dimension of Taiwan's political reality. Their flawed understanding could have damaging consequences over the next four years, say LC Russell Hsiao & Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao.

What is energy for?

Rebecca Willis, 7 February 2012
So familiar has the social economy of energy become in modern societies, so routine its extraordinardinary wastefulness, so toxic its effects, that the capacity for a better way can be missed. By questioning the how, why and what of energy use, says Rebecca Willis, new possibilities - of living, travelling, eating, working and buying - can open

Bosnia: blood, honey, and war's legacy

Peter Lippman, 7 February 2012
A film portrayal of the horrors of systematic rape during Bosnia's war of 1992-95 highlights the victims' suffering and bravery. But the romantic thread of Angelina Jolie's work fails to convince, says Peter Lippman.

Nigeria: the challenge of “Boko Haram II”

Morten Bøås, 7 February 2012
The radical Islamist group Boko Haram poses an increasing threat to the Nigerian state in the country’s north. How has it become so powerful and effective? The ingredients of an answer lie in the complex history, power-relationships and social inequalities of this marginalised region, says Morten Bøås.
Monday 6th February

Tunisia: a year of all dangers

Vicken Cheterian, 6 February 2012
Tunisia is both the pioneer of the Arab spring and its greatest success so far. But even here the political and economic tests are acute, says Vicken Cheterian.

How to understand Hungary

George Schöpflin, 6 February 2012
The portrayal of Hungary and its current government by the international media and external actors is one-sided and lacks context, says the academic and Fidesz member of the European parliament, György Schöpflin. The effects are felt within the country, and raise deeper questions about the European Union and its underlying values.

France's election: looking for light

Patrice de Beer, 6 February 2012
France's disillusion extends beyond the country's president to its political class, economy and sense of social direction. The beneficiaries may include the far-right Marine Le Pen as well as the centre-left François Hollande, says Patrice de Beer.
Thursday 26th January

The Iran complex: why history matters

Paul Rogers, 26 January 2012
A sense of enduring history and more recent experience of bitter conflict inform Iran's nuclear stance. To understand this could be a way to avoid war.
Wednesday 25th January

Theo Angelopoulos: "I am standing by you"

Jane Gabriel, 25 January 2012
The award winning Greek film director, Theo Angelopoulos, died yesterday in an accident whilst working on his new film The Other Sea. He spoke to Jane Gabriel in 2009 about his film 'The Dust of Time', and in 1993 about his films 'The Suspended Step of the Stork' and 'The Travelling Players'

Palestine and the two-state phantom

Ghassan Khatib, 25 January 2012
A combination of political changes and shifts in attitude are making the possibility of a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine increasingly remote, says Ghassan Khatib.
Monday 23rd January

America's social security: reforming a giant

Matt Kennard, 23 January 2012
The cost of the United States's trillion-dollar pension system is high on the presidential-election agenda. But turning problems into workable proposals is hard, reports Matt Kennard.
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