Enjoy contested debates and in-depth analysis by leading actors and thinkers – plus word from ‘ordinary’ people experiencing the effects of globalisation. The aim is clear thinking – and workable solutions for globalisation

A world in movement: prospects for 2011

Mariano Aguirre 24 January 2011
The influence of rising states amid the infirmity of the United States and other established powers will make 2011 a transition year towards a new global order, says Mariano Aguirre.

Tunisia and the world: roots of turmoil

Paul Rogers 24 January 2011
The uprising in Tunisia is at once a response to systemic inequity and injustice and an expression of the limits of elite control. But to the economic and political ingredients of the revolt must be added the potent if less evident one of global environmental crisis.

A world in breakdown

Paul Rogers 13 January 2011

The events of a single day in three continents are a lesson in the interlocking crises that will define the decade.

The 2011 outlook: ideas and agents

David Hayes 12 January 2011

Where are the sources of inspiration that can improve global and national prospects in 2011? openDemocracy writers across the world offer their thoughts.

(The first contributions in this collection were published on 3 January 2011)

A new military paradigm

Paul Rogers 6 January 2011

A near-decade of global war since 9/11 highlights the urgent need for revision of Washington’s military-led global strategy. A fresh analysis offers the ingredients for change.

The SWISH Report (17)

Paul Rogers 1 January 2011
What is the condition of al-Qaida, and what are its prospects in 2011 and beyond? The movement commissions the well-regarded SWISH management agency to deliver a further independent evaluation, to which openDemocracy has exclusive access.

Poland’s tragedy: sorrow, and anger

Adam J Chmielewski and Denis Dutton 28 December 2010

The air-crash which decapitated Poland’s state elite may owe something to reckless behaviour, official negligence - and the flaws of modern democracy itself, say Adam J Chmielewski & Denis Dutton.

(This article was first published on 13 April 2010)

The toll of the world

Paul Rogers 22 December 2010
The casualties of 19th-century industrial disasters in northern England and tragedies in Bangladesh and Iraq today are connected by deep economic and political forces - and by an ethical understanding that stretches decades ahead.

A rage unquenched: AfPak, Iraq, and the west

Paul Rogers 16 December 2010
A pattern of attacks in the United States and Europe by individual jihadists is deeply connected to both the effects and the perceptions of a decade's war across the greater middle east.

Silvio Berlusconi: endgame, prolonged

Geoff Andrews 14 December 2010
A narrow confidence vote in Italy’s chamber of deputies extends the turbulent career of Italy’s scandal-ridden prime minister. But the corrosion of Italian democracy under “Berlusconismo” goes wider than one man, says Geoff Andrews.

America: the panoptic shiver

Paul Rogers 10 December 2010
The hacked United States diplomatic missives reveal both the vast ambition and the new vulnerabilites of the world’s superpower.

WikiLeaks and democracy

Patrice de Beer 9 December 2010
The Robin Hoods of the net challenge the culture of secrecy that has major states in its grip - and thus perform a service to democracy, says Patrice de Beer.

Hada, Liu Xiaobo, and China’s fear

Kerry Brown and Natalia Lisenkova 8 December 2010
A powerful Chinese political elite fears those citizens who raise their voice against it. The case of a political prisoner in Inner Mongolia, as much as that of the Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, reveals the distance it has to go to temper strength with justice, say Kerry Brown & Natalia Lisenkova.

Belarusians: in need of a nation

Natalia Leshchenko 8 December 2010
The contest between rival “Soviet” and “European” discourses fuels a dead-end debate about Belarus’s elusive national identity. It is time instead - whoever wins the presidential election on 19 December 2010 - to change the question, and find what Belarusians have in common. A shared archetype is a good place to start, says Natalia Leshchenko.

After Cancún: shifting climate gears

Andrew Pendleton 6 December 2010
The loss of momentum in climate diplomacy reflects deep flaws in the way campaigners understand and frame climate change in relation to people’s lives and interests. There is both challenge and opportunity here, says Andrew Pendleton.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


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

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

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