Civil society

The cancellation by Tony Blair of several events on his book tour this week due to fears of disruption by anti-war protesters has led to a misplaced concern in some quarters over the former Prime Minister’s “free speech”.

Michael Lyons, Mark Thompson and Zarin Patel before the Culture Media and Sports Committee

It is critically important that the heads of state attending the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit consider the best way to support the complex and difficult process of making sustainable human progress in poorer countries. Those working within the development sector who know that the current paradigm is inadequate must take the initiative within their sphere of influence to create a kind of movement for change together that is both principled and politically expedient

Powerful people share our vision. And all we had to do was call our vision “energy security"

A new UK government proposal to allow the public to determine how development aid is spent has come under heavy criticism, but if implemented correctly MyAid could harness the knowledge of citizens and help build support for rising aid budgets.

IP Adhikari outlines the difficulties faced in imposing a national language in the quest for a Bhutanese national identity

The work of restoring the Romanian Saxon Transylvanian villages, as undertaken by the Mihai Eminescu Trust is not romantic or nostalgic: it is about establishing sustainable, proud livelihoods

Six months into office, Yanukovych has moved swiftly to strengthen government. Indications are mounting that his intention is comprehensively to curtail the freedoms won by Ukraine since the fall of communism. But there is reason to hope that civil society may prove robust enough to withstand the pressure

Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture was a blinkered attempt to skewer Sky while ignoring the BBC's own culpability in the crisis of investment in public service broadcasting, argues David Elstein.

Mark Thompson responds to critics at the James MacTaggart memorial lecture.

The inability of large numbers of young people in the UK to get on a University course provides some early evidence of how the Coalition government might seek to cater for young people during a time of austerity.

The to-ing and fro-ing about ‘women’s peaceful natures’ is no more than an excitable bubble of argument out of touch with facts on the ground. Antiwar feminism is a pretty holistic feminism that is forged in the crucible of war.

How can we build a strong and effective global peace movement?’ Cynthia Cockburn, Howard Clark and Dave Webb reply to Diana Francis

Some weeks ago Kaliningrad achieved a first in Russia by getting its governor Georgy Boos fired by the Kremlin. On 21 August thousands gathered to protest at the state of Russia and to demand the resignation of Putin and his government.

Samuel P. Huntington’s oft-pilloried work, “The Clash of Civilizations”, has long lost its original academic potency. However it has growing leverage at the grass-roots level where the clash has been reinterpreted to justify growing islamophobia

The news that Matthew Elliot, the chief exec of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, is to head the “No” campaign in the AV referendum has been greeted with glee by Tory bloggers who have heaped praise and superlatives on his campaigning skills. For those on the left, who are considering joining the anti-reform faction, it’s perhaps worth pausing to consider whose interests they would be aligning themselves with.

The plan to construct a section of the new Moscow-St.Petersburg motorway through the legally-protected Khimki Forest Park will destroy a rare eco-system. Dogged local resistance has turned this into a national, even international issue. But it has not derailed the plan The article was first published on March 17, 2010

When Putin sat down to tea with artists and musicians before a charity concert last month, he could not have expected difficult questions, writes Olga Sherwood. He had not counted on DDT's Yury Shevchuk, who found the courage to stand out from the crowd and launch a memorable and principled criticism of the current political course. The article was first published on July 1st, 2010

The disconnection between the international left and its counterparts in Israel has become near total, to the detriment of the causes that both espouse. But a situation with complex roots can be remedied by looking more closely at the work of people on the ground, say Keith Kahn-Harris & Joel Schalit.

The big mistake children make is that they do not have the vote. If they did, perhaps the insidious and influential campaign to cut or "reform" child benefit would not be gaining ground as the coalition government searches around for huge savings in order to satisfy George Osborne.