Paul Hirst

Paul Hirst was a prolific democratic intellectual and teacher. He served as professor of social relations at Birkbeck College, University of London and academic director of the London Consortium.

Endism: why 1989 was not the 'end of history'

"The very notion of an ‘end’ to history is pernicious… Democracy is deeply compromised."

By Paul Hirst

/ 20 Nov 2019

Endism: why 1989 was not the 'end of history'

Renewing democracy through associations

Participants in the Revisiting Associative Democracy seminar organized last October by Andrea Westall and Stuart White in London’s Coin Street Community Centre were invited to read this usefully condensed account of Paul Hirst's normative political theory, published in 2002.

By Paul Hirst

/ 10 Jan 2011

Not (yet) an Arabian Tet

Click here for a summary and recollections of the Vietnam war. I argued on the eve of war that the coalition and Saddam were following asymmetrical strategies. If Iraqi resistance

By Paul Hirst

/ 2 Apr 2003

Asymmetrical strategies

The war has begun. How it will be fought, and what its outcome will be, depend on two factors that are still incalculable. How many Iraqi troops will offer serious

By Paul Hirst

/ 20 Mar 2003

What would Jed Bartlet do?

The staffers at Number 10, Downing Street, the heart of British government, are addicted to West Wing. They are fascinated by the insight into the political plumbing, and enjoy vicariously

By Paul Hirst

/ 19 Feb 2003

America first: the case to answer

Opposition to the Bush administrations strategy on Iraq is growing both inside America and around the world. Criticism of its pre-emptive approach tends to be scornful of its intellectual

By Paul Hirst and Philip Bobbitt

/ 7 Nov 2002

Hirst on Bobbitt

Paul Hirst reviews Philip Bobbitts book The Shield of Achilles. The Shield of Achilles is the most thought provoking book on the future of war and the international system

By Paul Hirst

/ 7 Nov 2002

No elixirs to hand

The day of 11 September 2001 was the start of a new and prolonged war on terrorism. The attacks changed the scale and significance of the threat. Anthony Barnett is

By Paul Hirst

/ 10 Sep 2002

Globalisation: the argument of our time

Two scholars of globalisation clash over its nature, its originality today and its likely future.

By David Held and Paul Hirst

/ 22 Jan 2002

Future war

We are all concerned about the course and outcome of the current war on terrorism and what its long-term consequences will be. A great deal is predictable, and the papers

By Paul Hirst

/ 17 Oct 2001

The Real Third Way: Britain's lesson

The reverberations of 11 September around the world will not indefinitely postpone the routines of political life and argument that are essential to a healthy polity. Even in the midst

By Paul Hirst

/ 26 Sep 2001