The Copenhagen climate-change summit has been widely portrayed as a failure. But in a deeper and longer perspective COP15 is an important milestone, says Joe Smith.
A series of intelligence failures that stretch from Afghanistan to the American heartland reveals the depth of the United States’s strategic predicament at the dawn of 2010.
A volcanic decade in global politics ends amid deep unease about the world’s ability to rise to key 21st-century challenges. openDemocracy writers draw breath and look ahead by reflecting on three questions: 1) What was the most significant trend in the century's first decade? 2) What do you most
The persistence of violence in Iraq reopens the question of the impulse of the war unleashed by Washington in 2003 on the Saddam Hussein regime.
The United Nations climate-change summit is a vital moment in the world’s effort to avert catastrophe. openDemocracy authors reflect on what needs to happen and how much Copenhagen can achieve.
A "great debate" over French national identity is compromised by its politicised character and exclusionary discourse, says Patrice de Beer.
Scotland's nationalist government projects the confident vision of a country moving towards independence. But the cramped nature of much public debate inhibits the renewal it seeks, says Tom Gallagher.
The war on terror has been a disaster. But out of its ashes a deeper understanding of global security capable of addressing real 21st-century threats may emerge.
The challenge of an emergent xenophobic populism in Sweden is provoking thoughtful centre-left voices to seek an effective response, finds Mats Engström in Stockholm.
The degrading aftermath of Sri Lanka’s civil war demands international action to ensure protection of its civilians from their overweening rulers, says Martin Shaw.
The social damage of governmental and financial negligence in the banking crisis is clear from the perspective of Scotland’s border-country, finds the scholar-politician Christopher Harvie.
Brazil's president will present a "green" face at Copenhagen's climate-change summit. But has he truly rethought his old "developmentalism", asks Sue Branford.
