Occupy: rediscovering the general will in hard times

Natalie Fenton and Nick Couldry 9 January 2012
Times of economic crisis call into question our systems of democracy. Today's global occupy movement is a call to reclaim the economy as a site of decision. To do so, we will need to rethink ourselves as political subjects.

High pay: what Machiavelli would have recommended a politician do

Tony Curzon Price 9 January 2012
It's true that high pay for bosses serves no purpose except keeping them (and their headquarters) in the country. The only real solution is economic policy coordination. In its absence, Machiavelli would have been proud of the proposals and statements on display this new year in the UK

Where were you when Europe fell apart?

Per Wirtén 8 January 2012
Too many Europeans have too long avoided the question of Europe. To prevent the EU from turning into a "post-democratic regime of bureaucrats", intellectuals need to stop mumbling and take their and our fear of Europe seriously

Structural funds and crocodile tears

Iannis Carras 8 January 2012
Misdirected EU aid has strengthened rent-seeking elements in the Greek economy and fostered political clientelism, writes Iannis Carras. Instead of learning from mistakes, current EU/IMF policy favours construction and privatization of state land, enabled through a legal sleight of hand. Quite apart from the environmental risks, this is counterproductive in economic terms

From eastern Europe, lessons for Egypt’s newborn democracy

Andy Ignatov 7 January 2012
Ukraine and Georgia - two countries in a region undergoing dramatic change in the past two decades - can help Egypt examine the circumstances in which high aspirations do or do not lead to a successful transformation.

Is political Islam on the losing side of the Arab Spring ?

Afshin Shahi 6 January 2012
Islamic political narratives flourish in opposition but will suffer in the long term

In Place of Austerity: Reconstructing the economy, state and public services

Clifford Singer 5 January 2012
When even ex-Blairites are turning their back on the doctrine of New Public Management, why do such policies still guide reform? Dexter Whitfield's new book asks how we got here, and what practical alternatives there are for the future.

Capital E Nationalism versus little e (and €) capitalism

David Rickard 3 January 2012
To be a big player in Europe, England needs to be a big nation. Britain cannot fulfill that role because it is not a nation, but an empty shell.

The great Ethiopian land-grab: feudalism, leninism, neo-liberalism ... plus ça change

René Lefort 31 December 2011
Land in Ethiopia is being leased to agro-industry investors on very long terms and below market rates. The beneficiaries have good political connections. But land has been the play-thing of centralising authoritarians throughout Ethiopia's recent history

Is inflation a good tax? Can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Julian Sayarer 30 December 2011
UK inflation at 5% is considered almost a victory by the economic managers of the nation. Yet it is a blunt instrument with strong redistributive effects. So what is a well-managed currency, and can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Risk: tricky stuff

David Malone 26 December 2011
If you are a banker what you want is risky, high interest rate loans without the risk... Sooner or later it follows that what the bankers need to do above all else is to elevate financial contracts above democracy.

Chronicle of a non-violent protest: Jobat, Madhya Pradesh (India)

Alessandra Marino 26 December 2011
For more than three weeks over 130 people have carried out the longest occupation of government-owned land ever registered in Madhya Pradesh (a state in central India).

In the shadows of globalisation: drug violence in Mexico and Central America

Benedicte Bull 22 December 2011
The wave of violence afflicting Mexico and the northern triangle of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) is caused by three developments: changes in the global drug market, the effect of the war against organised crime and the international financial crisis, making the problem not just a criminal one.

Fumbling for change

Austin Gerassimos Mackell 21 December 2011
If politics is “the art of the possible” then 2011 has left us, as artists, with suddenly a much larger canvas and a new palate of colours to choose from. This broadened scope requires of us a new capacity for imagination.

Time for Tax Transparency in the UK

Oliver Huitson 21 December 2011
In the wake of the PAC report on HMRC's failure to tax corporations fairly, what other solutions might there be to bridge Britain's £25bn "tax gap"?

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


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

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