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It will be interesting to see exactly which customs the Vatican is going to allow from the past rich five centuries of Anglican worship, life and thought.

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Paul Rogers

Global security


Li Datong

China from the inside


Fred Halliday

Global politics


Mary Kaldor

Human security


Daniele Archibugi

Cosmopolitan democracy

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institutions & government

Everyone likes the idea of fair, accountable and effective international institutions to cope with global economic, environment and security issues. But what form should they take? David Held and Paul Hirst argue for gradual reform within. George Monbiot advocates root and branch democratisation of the UN, and the creation of a new economic order. Other contributors identify key dilemmas and suggest creative solutions.

How do the upheavals of 1989 look now? On the anniversary, openDemocracy writers reflect: Katinka Barysch: Timebends Arthur Ituassu: A time of fusion
The spreading Naxalite insurgency in India - not al-Qaida - may show the world its future
It was a real revolution - but with one missing feature
A massacre in Thailand's Muslim-majority south symbolises the state's lack of accountability 
President Lula's Brazil has achieved new status and rising prosperity. But two key tests remain
How, in a year of lost fear and found courage, east Europeans vanquished a degrading system 
A coherent shift towards a civilian, Afghan, regional, and UN-led policy can still rescue a failing strategy
The danger of states or terrorists using “incapacitatant” chemical agents is growing. It's time to contain it
Karadzic's refusal to appear in court raises the question of whether war crimes defendants should have the right to self-representation
The price of order in Ben Ali's fiefdom is paid in hidden violations, blocked lives and unaccountable power
Nicolas Sarkozy's one-man republic at last leaves him exposed
Italy's showman-premier faces a struggle that will test his "postmodern populism" to the limit
James Galbraith talks about Paul Krugman's NYT article, "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?",  the academic discipline after the crash, the forgotten traditions in economics, the economics and law of fraud and much else over breakfast at the Goodenough Club
The global community must recognise the dangers climate change poses to democracy
Colonel Gaddafi's domain, now opening to the world, is more protection-racket than modern state
The problems of global economy, climate and security are sharpening. Where is Europe's voice?
A "small-is-beautiful" reform could begin to cure the fatal addiction to giant credit sources
A plot against Chilean democracy in the 1970s has echoes in Colombia and Honduras today
The antagonism between Maoists and other political actors casts doubt over Nepal's social peace
How humans manage the interplay of global warming and insecurity will define the century 
As the credit-bubble burst on 9 August 2007, so did globalisation
A precise record of the individual victims of war is becoming a key objective of humanitarian work
The “new western way of war” inflicts great harm on civilians. But how to define this harm?
A forensic scrutiny of how Hugo Chávez's vast ambition grew in Simón Bolívar's image
The G8's performance at its Italian summit suggests that it has lost its way on aid policy
The powerful Kirchner couple's rule is also the story of a degraded new form of “democracy”
Behind the Obama-Medvedev progress in arms-reduction, a far larger dynamic is at work
What kind of violence has the Sri Lankan state been committing against its Tamil civilian population?
A generation of neo-liberal policies feeds a serious democratic deficit inside the liberal state
A human-rights lens on corporate power as a path to a fairer world
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