globalisation

The search for accountability for the genocide in Bangladesh in 1971 needs international support, say Jalal Alamgir & Tazreena Sajjad.

The exhaustion of the planet and existing ways of life presents a creative challenge: exploring “uncivilisation”. Paul Kingsnorth introduces the Dark Mountain Project.

The Barack Obama administration’s plans for subduing the Taliban are endangered by continuing insecurity in Iraq

The American-led effort to map Afghanistan’s future neglects the role of the country’s neighbours – and could yet be derailed by events over Iran.

The official annual commemoration of a century of genocide and its victims should be accompanied by a responsible awareness of Britain’s own historical record, says Martin Shaw. (This article was first published on 27 January 2009)

The daunting task of post-earthquake reconstruction in Haiti amounts to a long-term challenge in state-building, say Mariano Aguirre & Tone Faret of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre.

The breach between a corporate behemoth of the new-media age and an emerging state superpower defines the struggle for the world’s information future, say Johnny Ryan & Stefan Halper.

On the anniversary of Barack Obama’s inauguration as United States president, the al-Qaida movement invites the respected SWISH management consultancy to assess its prospects.

The combination of Iran's effort to protect its nuclear facilities and Israel's to prevent its rival developing a weapon makes a crisis in 2010 all the more likely.

A key institution of modern justice must learn how to speak to the world it inhabits, says James A Goldston.

The Copenhagen climate-change summit has been widely portrayed as a failure. But in a deeper and longer perspective COP15 is an important milestone, says Joe Smith.

A series of intelligence failures that stretch from Afghanistan to the American heartland reveals the depth of the United States’s strategic predicament at the dawn of 2010.

A volcanic decade in global politics ends amid deep unease about the world’s ability to rise to key 21st-century challenges. openDemocracy writers draw breath and look ahead by reflecting on three questions:

1) What was the most significant trend in the century's first decade?

2) What do you most hope for, and most fear, about the decade to come?

3) What idea do you see fading and/or emerging in 2010 and beyond?

The persistence of violence in Iraq reopens the question of the impulse of the war unleashed by Washington in 2003 on the Saddam Hussein regime.

The United Nations climate-change summit is a vital moment in the world’s effort to avert catastrophe. openDemocracy authors reflect on what needs to happen and how much Copenhagen can achieve.

A "great debate" over French national identity is compromised by its politicised character and exclusionary discourse, says Patrice de Beer.

Scotland's nationalist government projects the confident vision of a country moving towards independence. But the cramped nature of much public debate inhibits the renewal it seeks, says Tom Gallagher.

The war on terror has been a disaster. But out of its ashes a deeper understanding of global security capable of addressing real 21st-century threats may emerge.

The challenge of an emergent xenophobic populism in Sweden is provoking thoughtful centre-left voices to seek an effective response, finds Mats Engström in Stockholm.

The degrading aftermath of Sri Lanka’s civil war demands international action to ensure protection of its civilians from their overweening rulers, says Martin Shaw.