Øyvind Paasche calls on climate change scientists to get out of their hamster wheel and make an impact. But mostly our writers bring passionate understanding to local issues. Starting in Africa, Adoyi Onoja examines the flaws in Nigeria's evolving model of security, a theme extended by Phil Clark'
The creation of the European Union is arguably the most noble and positive achievement of deliberate international political construction since the end of the First World War. Now it could collapse like the Soviet Union: Ivan Krastev’s careful, masterful comparison is free of all the usual banalit
What’s normal? For thirty years the politics of ‘globalisation’ has tried to persuade us that regulation is inhuman while avarice and the market are natural. Now, in the wake of the crash, a struggle over what is ‘normal’ has begun. In a brilliantly suggestive reflection on France after the electi
As two elections shake Europe, the most powerful figure in Britain for the last 30 years, Rupert Murdoch, is humbled, and we get a new Editor-in-Chief.
The Arab Awakening brings out the energy in oD’s open structure, as a dedicated debate space is supported by ongoing sections: from 50:50 Lindsey Hilsum and Nadia Taher, reporting on women in Libya and Egypt; from openSecurity with Sylvaine Bulle’s analysis of Israel’s extraordinary tent movement
As Spain witnessed a general strike against austerity, Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark argue for a basic income guarantee, Robert Borosage denounces America’s top 1% taking 93% of all salary growth and Nick Pearce urges social democrats to rethink.
Will the Greek bailout really move Europe forward? Vassilis Fouskas says the only possible progress lies not in bond-swaps but in an exit from the euro-zone in a leftward direction under a radical left movement. Markha Valenta is more nuanced, but agrees the fiscal technocrats do not help, offerin
“How can we have openness and security?” asks our freshly expanded openSecurity.
It was a week that clarified the contests that will shape our post-crash world. Democratic change may be coming, fanned by the warmth of social media, but resistance is strengthening too, in Syria, Russia, Iran, the EU and Britain. openDemocracy highlights the sober side.
On the Tuesday before the presidential election, Ollie Carroll on behalf of openDemocracy Russia and the Russia Foundation hosted a panel on civil society and the new Russia in the august surroundings of Dean’s Yard, Westminster. Artemy Troitsky and Mikhail Zygar, two of the most recognisable face
Crossing borders is never made easy. It can be made dramatic, asOrson Wells does in the opening sequence of Touch of Evil, a film that Salik Shah would never have had access to had it not been for technology - torrent networks - and piracy. Understand that piracy is not just middle class teens rip
Can democracy hurt minority rights? In a fascinating and disturbing essay on how Tahrir Square is not Egypt, Sami Zubaida acknowledges that dictators have liberated women and stifled the displeasure of religious conservatives and their supporters. What does it mean for women’s rights now, when cha
