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

The path from 9/11

Jane Kinninmont 10 September 2011
A focus on the violence of an Arab and Muslim minority skewed western policy for a decade. The great events of 2011 are a chance to think afresh, says Jane Kinninmont, whose life was altered by witnessing the 9/11 attacks.

After 9/11: a wasteland of buried reason

Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh 10 September 2011
America’s excessive reaction to the 9/11 attacks was the prelude to a decade of damage and injustice on a vast scale. An understanding of what went wrong is essential to progress in the next ten years, says Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh.

9/11: a perfect pretext, a terrible legacy

Mariano Aguirre 10 September 2011
The tragedy of 11 September 2001 was used by authoritarian forces in the United States as a political opportunity. The ensuing damage to liberty, legality and democracy has been deep, says Mariano Aguirre

After 9/11: three dimensions of change

Volker Perthes 9 September 2011
The attacks of 11 September 2001 did not, after all, transform the world. But they did propel the United States into a unilateral and regime-change moment - and pose a more enduring challenge both to American and European conceptions of security and stability, says Volker Perthes.

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.

The age of high-tech war: after Libya

Paul Rogers 9 September 2011
There is intense rethinking in the Pentagon about the “war on terror”. The outcome of the Libyan conflict will reinforce its principal trends.

Chile: protest for the “promised land”

Patricio Navia 9 September 2011
The student movement convulsing Chile is aiming for social inclusion and reform of the model that improved the lives of millions in the 1990s. It should be seen in its own terms and not as a mere outpost of a global trend, says Patricio Navia.

9/11, and the lost decade

Paul Rogers 8 September 2011

What are the principal lessons of the ten years of war since the 11 September 2001 attacks? Paul Rogers, whose first openDemocracy column was published a few days after 9/11, responds to three questions.

The world’s food crisis: time to move

Simon Maxwell 8 September 2011
The international response to the food crisis of 2011 is less energetic and coherent than during the last emergency, in 2008. Both economic understanding and political impetus need to be improved, says Simon Maxwell.

Egypt, the Nile and the revolution

Vicken Cheterian 8 September 2011
The fate of Egypt across the centuries is indissolubly linked to the river which gives it life. Today, a range of problems - environmental, political, economic - threaten the provision and the quality of the Nile waters. They present another challenge for the young post-Mubarak order, says Vicken Cheterian 

The mutilated world: 9/11 in Poland

Adam Szostkiewicz 7 September 2011
The intense Polish empathy with America of the days after 11 September 2001 drew on an enduring connection. But there are signs of change, says Adam Szostkiewicz.

9/11: the identity-politics trap

Sami Zubaida 7 September 2011
The reaction to the attacks of 11 September 2001 included an instinctive veneration of their chief architect. Its deeper foundation is a regressive and widespread ethno-religious view of the world, says Sami Zubaida.

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.

After 9/11: a painful lesson

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi 7 September 2011
The inspiring Arab protesters of 2011 bring hope that the tragic cycle of animosity opened by 9/11 can end, says Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi.

After 9/11: the ripples of global violence

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam 7 September 2011
The postmodern terror of 11 September 2001 unleashed a decade of catastrophic war. A decade's accounting includes both numberless victims and some unlikely beneficiaries, says Arshin Adib-Moghaddam.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

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

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