openSecurity | openDemocracy

“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

A grand bargain is needed, between Israel, Hamas and Egypt

Benedetta Berti 12 May 2013

When it comes to Gaza, an approach centered on isolation and deterrence has not led to a real stability, resulting in repeated rounds of violent confrontation between the two parties

The well of the past: the power of religion in Bangladesh

Lailufar Yasmin 10 May 2013

While secularism can be seen as a point of departure for Bangladeshi nationalism from the 1950s onward, the post-1971 reality is that it is now being imposed without taking into account the increasingly religious mindset of the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis.

Reason and responsibility: the Rana Plaza collapse

William Gomes 9 May 2013

The Rana Plaza tragedy was an outcome of a corrupt system that is rotten to the core. Who should - and can - be held accountable?

UK Border Agency asserts that Sri Lankans pay to get maimed so they can claim asylum

Frank Arnold 8 May 2013

Burnt with metal rods and cigarette butts? Maybe so, says the Border Agency, but you paid someone to do this to you. A surgeon with expertise in torture scars argues that 'self-torture by proxy' is a dangerous fiction.

Failed cities?

Manoela Miklos 7 May 2013

Everyday life in some western cities is often more dangerous than living in so-called 'failed states'. Is it thus time to re-scale security analysis?

Israel's loopy logic of exoneration

Valentina Azarov 3 May 2013

Israel's recent 'update' on military investigations into civilian deaths in Gaza last November is an affirmation of its deficient institutional and legal practice, with the result of continued impunity for its military and political officials.

The Hague Jolie Declaration: ending impunity for sexual crimes in conflict?

Anna Bragga 2 May 2013

Anna Bragga interviews international criminal and human rights lawyer Hugo Charlton on the evolving efforts to recognise rape and sexual violence as weapons of war, and the means for accountability.

Spectacle and surveillance in Brazil

Flavie Halais 2 May 2013

The unprecedented series of mega-events which are set to take place across Brazil in the coming years have lead to heightened security in host cities – a gold mine for the global private defence industry.

The NPT’s “unacceptable and continuous failure”: Egypt walks out

Rebecca Johnson 1 May 2013

On April 29th Egypt’s diplomats walked out of the NPT Conference in protest at the lack of progress in establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, thereby putting the NPT regime on notice. Reporting from Geneva, Rebecca Johnson analyses the reasons

UK surveillance law: a warning, and a call for a different future

Open Rights Group 30 April 2013

The British are being tracked, more than we have ever been. A new report sets out what this means for the everyday citizen, and calls for more targeted, more accountable surveillance laws.

Guns, drugs and dollars: getting global drivers of local violence on the post-2015 agenda

Erwin van Veen 29 April 2013

Leaving violence and conflict off the post-2015 agenda is a clear signal that countries want to keep the door towards increasing international accountability for the use of violence as closed as possible.

Mali's reconciliation attempt

Timothée Labelle 29 April 2013

With a UN peacekeeping force soon to be deployed to Mali, what are the prospects for the recently created Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission?

Building resistance in Hebron

Elisa Ferrato, John Lewicki, and Mick Scott 29 April 2013

In the face of growing spatial securitisation and colonisation of Hebron's occupied old city, a set of community initiatives have emerged which seek to build resilience, protect human rights, and counter the economic and social decline of the area.

Security industry provides medics for UK deportation flights

Phil Miller 29 April 2013

The UK government entrusts security company rooted in the military with medical care of detainees on deportation flights.

Syria: the life cycle of civil war

Shelley Deane 29 April 2013

A comprehensive understanding of how, why and when opposition groups in civil war engage in civilian governance must have important policy implications for outsiders engaging or toying with engaging in Syria.

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