Grahame Thompson - openDemocracy

Inequalities and wealth taxes: consequences of the ‘commodification’ of everything

A new book offers a fresh illumination of the reasons for the financial crisis and a compelling argument for a policy of taxing those organizations where the ultra rich hide their – for the most part – ill-gotten gains.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 8 Apr 2019

Inequalities and wealth taxes: consequences of the ‘commodification’ of everything

Con- and F-words in the Brexit era

What should post-Brexit governance look like in the UK? What is needed, urgently, is for this to be politically addressed head on.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 23 May 2018

Institutionalizing populism

A ‘national conversation’ about important matters is becoming almost impossible under these circumstances. Half the population does not want to listen.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 22 Nov 2016

Brexit and the rise of populism

Populist nationalisms are replacing social democracy and Christian democracy across Europe. But we cannot, and should not, attempt to resuscitate these traditional models of governance.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 21 Jul 2016

Should we worry about global quasi-constitutionalization?

The Rule of Law may be being given away as Rule by Laws replaces a comprehensive system of democratically constituted judicial review.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 23 Jan 2013

International contagion under national leadership

Crises always expose the underlying character of situations and events. They are intriguing - even attractive - occasions since they provide a glimpse into the very structure of the system.

By Grahame Thompson

/ 5 Nov 2008

The financial crisis: unorthodox thoughts

The crisis in the international financial system is still unfolding and continued short-term policy firefighting is absolutely necessary. But what about the longer-term response: how should the authorities react in

By Grahame Thompson

/ 3 Oct 2008

Responsibility and neo-liberalism

The issue of "responsibility" has increasingly become a defining feature of the current era of neo-liberal globalisation. At every level of governmental and social policy, and in many

By Grahame Thompson

/ 31 Jul 2007

Talking democracy: Chinas lesson in Denmark

Several years ago I was involved in a discussion with Chinese academic members of the Communist Party about democracy in China. My hosts' knowledge of all the main western

By Grahame Thompson

/ 30 Nov 2006

What is fundamentalism?

The spectre of "fundamentalism" is haunting Europe. In every faith-tinged controversy, from the Danish cartoons to the French hijab, from British multiculturalism to Dutch language-rules, the word and

By Grahame Thompson

/ 9 Mar 2006

Learning tolerance

Johanna Mendelson Forman and D Austin Hare preview the report of the Kofi Annan-appointed HighLevel Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, to be published on 2 December 2004, as

By Grahame Thompson

/ 2 Dec 2004

The limits to globalisation: questions for Held and Wolf

The debate on openDemocracy between David Held and Martin Wolf shows that globalisation refuses to die as an issue. Both - and this is true also of other participants in

By Grahame Thompson

/ 30 Jun 2004