The Catalan separatists' greatest achievement was perhaps to change the terms of the debate on independence, from an essentially legal question to a myriad of political, economic and social interrogations. Is 'independence' really the answer to all of these questions?
On December 30, 2012 the Iraqi Prime Minister openly accused Turkey of plotting to divide Iraq into three states. But what might be the unintended consequences of any such division?
In the twentieth century the west’s boundless determination to extract ripped apart the social, political and cultural fabric of whole countries. Today, a century’s worth of price decline has been wiped out in a single decade, without reducing unprecedented levels of demand.
The British Prime Minister has vowed to negotiate a ‘new settlement’ on Britain and the EU. In a debate on Europe with Sir Menzies Campbell, Nigel Farage and Peter Oborne, organised by the Cantor Index in the City of London on January 9, David Blunkett, Labour MP and former British Home Secretary
A failure to reconcile a concern for human development with genuine economic development will make the High Level Panel’s already difficult task much harder.
The upgrade of Temelin, a nuclear power station, has become the backdrop of a power struggle between the Unites States and Russia. Worryingly, a discussion on Czech energy policy is being silenced by the competition of foreign strategic interests.
Syria under the rule of Hafez al-Assad acquired the image of a bastion of intransigent anti-imperialism that made it attractive to a section of the western left. The process reflected changes in regional politics whose effects are felt to this day, say Hazem Saghieh & Samer Frangie.
We have to establish a world public power representative of all countries and all people within all countries. One cannot ‘think away’ individual countries as powers, or international companies and banks. But we need a countervailing power in the system.
On 17 December 2012, Ken Loach summed up the personal significance of The Battle of Algiers for him, in our project situating Algeria’s history, society and politics within the wider context of the Arab world.
Complexity needs a voice (this also applies to newer emigrant groups on both islands). Politics and autobiography, politics and culture, can drift too far apart. Gaps in the public discourse of the UK and the Irish Republic allow ethnic assertion to punch above its weight. And then there is poetry
It is one thing for rigorous research to influence policy, and another for that policy to then go an and achieve its intended positive outcome. James Souter argues that Refugee and Forced Migration studies has an important, yet ultimately subsidiary role in the task of improving the lives of refug
