democracy & power

An inspiring candidate has become a failing president. But a comparison with Lyndon B Johnson shows that the reasons for this outcome are more than personal. Change had come to America before Barack Obama got to the White House, says Godfrey Hodgson.

The Madrid train-bombings on 11 March 2004 provoked a dignified outpouring of collective grief. But the moment was soon reclaimed by Spain’s enduring political warfare over the national past, says Guy Hedgecoe.

An epic military, political, and security scandal continues to absorb Turkey. The affair's latest bizarre sub-plots make the tensions between the country's “deep state” and its constitutional order even more acute, says Bill Park.

A shifting balance of calculation in the middle east makes Lebanon’s Hizbollah movement more confident in its strategy of “deterrence-by-terror” vis-à-vis Israel, says Robert G Rabil

Daniel Goldhagen’s book “Worse Than War” includes British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s among its case-studies of “elimination”. A close reading of the demographic evidence reveals the falsity of the argument, says David Elstein.  

The degrading realities of France’s survivalist economy put the country’s latest debate about Islamic apparel into perspective, says Patrice de Beer.

The literature of human fall and frailty illuminates the political fate of Britain’s prime minister.   

The focus of dialogue with Beijing about human rights should shift from enforcing universal laws towards building a shared moral identity, says William A Callahan.

The emotional and psychological impact on children of the political crisis in Iran is an important and neglected issue, say S Deghati & Linda Herrera. 

The contest between Iran’s state and the opposition movement that arose after the presidential election of June 2009 is now at a critical point. How confident is the regime, where is the “green movement” going, and what should the international community do? openDemocracy writers examine the impasse.

The Iranian state has won a round in the battle against the opposition "green movement". But the war of survival continues, says Sanam Vakil.

The promise of an international order based on principle rather than the exercise of power is exposed as an occidentalist illusion by Russian actions towards Georgia, says Alexander Rondeli.

The complex realities of international politics make a wise and patient foreign-policy approach the only sensible one - especially for Russia’s smaller neighbours, says Rein Müllerson.

Iran’s opposition movement must draw the lessons of its months of activism since the 2009 election and map a coherent political strategy, says Nazenin Ansari.

(This article was first published on 17 February 2010)

Nepal’s path to development remains hostage to the lack of accountability over human-rights violations during the country’s civil war, says Meenakshi Ganguly.

(This article was first published on 15 February 2010)

The United States’s policies in Latin America are shaped by its domestic politics. The result is failure, discredit and loss of influence, says Juan Gabriel Tokatlian.

(This article was first published on 16 February 2010)

The Iranian authorities' violation of the country’s deepest codes of behaviour foretells their doom, says Nasrin Alavi

Italy’s economy and polity are in perennial trouble, but its prime minister Silvio Berlusconi survives every blow. All the more reason to scrutinise Italy's opposition, says Geoff Andrews.

The United States president has put better relations with the Muslim world at the heart of his foreign policy. The discourses of political Islamists reveal the scale of his task after a year in office, says Khaled Hroub.