The European experience of coalition government is being defied in Westminster, instead of respecting its spirit of consensus and compromise it is being used to legitimate a re-run of the curse of the UK: elected dictatorship
“Keep Calm and Carry On” was the post-ironic catchphrase for Phase One of the Financial Crisis. On one level, this was a piece of nostalgic kitsch. However, to truly understand its popularity, we have to consider the ways in which the message - ‘keep calm and carry on’ - expresses perfectly the af
The idea of multiculturalism has been subjected to greater criticism in recent years, especially on the grounds that it is divisive and undercuts other solidarities of society, class or nation. But a fuller understanding of the context in which the arguments for multiculturalism arose and evolved
The search for purposes in institutions is meaningless. A body only becomes an institution when people start acting in ways other than those set down in their rule book or mission statement. We must be wary of the impulse to build institutions, and be prepared to recognise the importance of habits
The extraordinary arc of Barack Obama’s popular appeal tells a deeper story of America: of how the relationship between liberalism and religion was forged, then frayed and broken, and how the president’s rhetoric offered the mirage of healing. Theo Hobson asks what, if anything, can be recovered f
While the Cameroon Conservatives re-draw the state, emphasising the role of the individual, popular culture propagates the myth of the self-made star. Psychology is the zeitgeist - but can society's deep-rooted problems be dealt with on the level of the individual?
Outraged by his local council's decision to close half the libraries in Oxfordshire, the author of the Dark materials trilogy delivers a broadside against market fundamentalism, the cuts and the 'Big Society' that goes with them.
Mary Kaldor’s latest book is The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon: Human Security and the New Rules of War and Peace co-authored with an American serving army officer, Shannon Beebe and published by Public Affairs. The book was primarily aimed at an American audience in the hope that the actual experi
Mohamed Ali Harrath is a former Tunisian dissident who was imprisoned and tortured after he set up a Muslim political party in Tunisia and had finally to flee the country. Now he is thinking of making a return visit.
The real scandal revealed on closer examination of diplomatic cables from the MENA region, is the gulf that separates what US diplomats acknowledge in private and what US leaders say (and do) in public, vis-a-vis democracy promotion in the Middle East
The multinational forces succeeded in gaining the trust of communities by changing the focus of the mission from the prosecution of insurgents to protection of civilians. This is a significant departure from past practices
