north america

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.
Wednesday 4th January

Against the militarization of schools

Pat Elder, 4 January 2012
"Opt-out" campaigns to counter strategies of the US military to gather information on potential recruits in high schools have had little impact. Other tactics have proven more effective.
Monday 19th December

The veteran's tale: homeless in the homeland

Matt Kennard, 19 December 2011
Many former American soldiers find it hard to readjust to civilian life. Now budget cuts to designated housing programmes are making it even tougher, says Matt Kennard.

Pakistan: next in line?

Shazad Ali, 19 December 2011
After Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has now turned its belligerent attention towards Pakistan. But opening up a new battlefront, this time in Pakistan, in the run-up to the presidential elections, will prove another quagmire for the Obama administration.
Wednesday 23rd November

American leadership, and a system failure

Godfrey Hodgson, 23 November 2011
The combination of a faded president, discredited rivals, and a dysfunctional political system spells trouble for the United States - at home and in the world, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 22nd November

Not commitment phobic: I got engaged

Mehrunisa Qayyum, 22 November 2011
It's not easy being an American Muslim in search of effective political engagement, finds Mehrunisa Qayyum.
Tuesday 1st November

So goes California, so goes the nation?

openDemocracy, 1 November 2011
The city of Oakland in California has become the militant heart of the occupations movement in the US following a brutal police crackdown. Alex Andrews for openDemocracy talks to Brad Johnson, an activist who lives and works in Oakland, about the events there, the general strike called by the occupation and the prospects of the movement internationally.
Sunday 30th October

Ressentiment: how sniping at OWS feeds a dangerous populism

Jim Sleeper, 30 October 2011
The right criticises OWS because it lacks order ... or surreptitiously injects hierarchy; because it respects private property ... or doesn't ... What drives the rhetorical sniping against OWS is the need for scapegoats. The media that offers them up is playing a dangerous game
Wednesday 12th October

Occupy Wall Street: lessons and opportunities

Cas Mudde, 12 October 2011
The Occupy movement in the United States is both similar to and different from its Tea Party predecessor. The precise combination gives it political space to grow, says Cas Mudde.
Monday 3rd October

America against the tide

Godfrey Hodgson, 3 October 2011
The United States's capacity to build alliances and extend influence was once founded on confidence that history was on its side. No longer, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Friday 9th September

America after 9/11: the wrong target

Rein Müllerson, 9 September 2011
A flawed response to terrorism on its soil brought the United States low. The lessons are also for the rest of the world to learn, says Rein Müllerson.
Wednesday 7th September

9/11, ten years on: reflections

David Hayes, 7 September 2011
A terror-filled day of mass murder in the eastern United States imprinted itself on the world's consciousness - and became the prelude to a decade of further violence. openDemocracy writers reflect on the impact and legacy of the events of 11 September 2001.
Monday 5th September

A new American reality

Andrew Stroehlein, 5 September 2011
A half-decade after 9/11, the United States appeared to Andrew Stroehlein to be locked in a “conflict mentality”. Now, he says, a new set of economic concerns - and even the rise of carnivalesque politics - signal the return of a kind of normality.
Wednesday 10th August

Proving Standard & Poor's wrong: "Starve the beast" versus "Feed the dream"

Tony Curzon Price, 10 August 2011
The downgrade of America's Sovereign debt rating is a recognition that the Gingrichite revolutionaries might win their struggle. The only response left must be to persuade voters of an ambitious, worthwhile common project above the levels of the family, locality and church
Thursday 30th June

Define ‘Meltable’ American

Cynthia Weber, 30 June 2011
The legalisation of same sex marriage in New York and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s announcement that he is an undocumented immigrant raise questions of the nature and limits of the American ‘melting pot’. Who is a ‘meltable American?’
Monday 20th June

America’s presidential politics

Godfrey Hodgson, 20 June 2011
Barack Obama’s hopes of a second term are still bright. But twin policy crises and Republican stirrings are clouds on his re-election horizon, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Tuesday 31st May

The 2012 U.S. presidential election: the issues to dominate, distract and influence

Frank Groome, 31 May 2011
The state of the U.S. economy is still looming large over the opening presidential election race. It will likely remain the dominant issue, while foreign policy developments and the 2010 Supreme Court decision on campaign financing will play prominent roles, argues Frank Groome
Tuesday 24th May

Bob Dylan at 70: revolution in the head, revisited

David Hayes, 24 May 2011
The most influential and original musician of the 1960s generation remains a figure of protean creativity half a century on. The wealth of attention devoted to Bob Dylan as he reaches his 70th birthday is testament to a career of astonishing range. It also reflects the complex legacy of a formative decade which Dylan’s songs and persona helped to define, says David Hayes.
Thursday 21st April

America's political suspense

Godfrey Hodgson, 21 April 2011
The manoeuvring over the United States presidential election in 2012 is underway. But the nature of a contest defined by issues of ideology and economy rather than personality is also beginning to emerge, says Godfrey Hodgson.
Monday 11th April

Vietnam to Iraq and AfPak: traps of history

Mariano Aguirre, 11 April 2011
The United States's prolonged counterinsurgency wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raise strong echoes of Vietnam. But new studies suggest that the lessons of this half-century military arc need to be carefully drawn, says Mariano Aguirre.
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