In the author's prescient May 2010 article there is the central observation that we are seeing a fundamental fault-line separating economic logic and political legitimacy. The author would have preferred to be less right. Today, saving democracy from the market means all democracies facing the mar
There are multiple reasons for looking beyond Islam for our comprehension of this tumultuous region, to culture, to politics, and also to the history of capitalism, foreign interference and domination – its winners and losers. Our reviewer of Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East, b
The new regime will not come into being on its own. It needs tough and careful negotiation so that the right balance between stability and change is struck. The US and EU have their small part to play
There is a mixture of change and stasis in the transition to democracy in Egypt today. The dangers of stalling are real, and the EU has an important role to play
Updated 11am. After Mubarak's refusal to stand down, attention must turn to what the armed pillars of the state will now do.The army may well be divided between loyalists and reformers; but the police and the Presidential Guard are also armed. The right kind of foreign pressure must continue.
The jury is still out on whether the transition will lead to a broad based democracy or to a coalition of sorts in which participating opposition forces will caution the reincarnation of the old regime. Much will depend on the will of nascent opposition organisations (Updated Feb 7)
Updated after Friday prayer Representatives of the regime may have understood that violence will weaken them even further internationally, but the question is whether they can and want to control numerous constituencies in the party, the policy and elsewhere who benefited from the regime and now f
Updated Friday 8am Mubarak's second television address shows that he will fight on and try and turn the tables on the protesters. Even if he steps down in September he will have ample possibility to orchestrate counter demonstrations, divide the opposition, foment chaos in the country, repress the
Has the search for efficiency opened politics to domination by special, collusive interests? Yes, and turns citizens into subjects, politics into government. Liberal economics and democracy are no longer the complements they were once thought to be
