A wave of student protest animated Britain’s political scene in late 2010 and highlighted wider concerns about the future of universities. There is already a decade of European experience of student engagement in this area where the movement can find allies and exert influence in 2011, says Anne C
An accumulating network of ignorance and prejudice is being mobilised in the United States against hyperbolised versions of the religion of Islam and its adherents. What are the core elements and ideological underpinnings of this powerful campaign? In a forensic essay first published in TomDispatc
Where are the sources of inspiration that can improve global and national prospects in 2011? openDemocracy writers across the world offer their thoughts. (The first contributions in this collection were published on 3 January 2011)
On 27 December Mikhail Khodorkovsky was found guilty of money laundering and probably faces another long stretch in prison. 4 days earlier retired colonel Vladimir Kvachkov was suddenly arrested. Examining these two, and one other, apparently dissimilar cases, Dmitry Travin finds that the threads
The air-crash which decapitated Poland’s state elite may owe something to reckless behaviour, official negligence - and the flaws of modern democracy itself, say Adam J Chmielewski & Denis Dutton. (This article was first published on 13 April 2010)
The Belarusian president’s latest election victory and the violent crackdown after it clarify the national challenge he faces, says Natalia Leshchenko.
An annual holiday in the Netherlands that mixes Christmas cheer with racial stereotyping is provoking debate - even if most Dutch people can’t see what the fuss is about, says Philip Ebels.
The systemic flaws in United States governance make long-term policy to address its cavernous deficits impossible, says Godfrey Hodgson.
The measuring of official policy by its impact on the quality of human life is progress. But only if the governments that proclaim the idea are serious, says David Boyle.
A narrow confidence vote in Italy’s chamber of deputies extends the turbulent career of Italy’s scandal-ridden prime minister. But the corrosion of Italian democracy under “Berlusconismo” goes wider than one man, says Geoff Andrews.
On Sunday, Belarus goes to the polls, ending an election cycle that has seen all the usual assumptions turned on their heads. In the first of a two part analysis, David R. Marples and Uladzimir Padhol concentrate on a Russia-Europe tug-of-war that has dominated the campaign. Part II looks at the c
A student protest in central London reveals the ugly face of an unaccountable government and the angry one of an alienated young generation, finds Delwar Hussain.
