Strange are the times we’re living through. In matters of democracy, they feature many novel and contradictory global trends, none quite so potentially fractious as the political tension between majority rule government and public struggles to restrain and humble lethal...
Read MoreEverybody warned this would be no ordinary invitation, and they were right. Three hundred metres from Knightsbridge underground station, just a stone’s throw from fashion-conscious Harrods, I suddenly encounter a wall of police. I try to remember my instructions. Look...
Read MoreOriginal Link here El prestigioso filósofo australiano John Keane será el encargado de inaugurar el IV Ciclo de Conferencias "La democracia hoy: el fin de la representación" que organiza el Departamento de Filosofía y Sociología de la Universitat Jaume I. Keane...
Read MoreYou said in your recent public speech in Castellon that we’re now living in the age of mega-projects. What exactly did you mean by this? In Europe as elsewhere, we’ve entered times marked by big-footprint projects, organised efforts to do things...
Read MoreLook around, or beyond the borders where you live. You’ll probably have noticed that disquiet and disaffection are spreading through the drought fields of democracy. Political parties and legislatures are not exactly in favour. Public disenchantment with politicians and official...
Read MoreThe spirit and institutions of Greek democracy are dying, but who really cares? Kostas Vaxevanis does. His name merits global attention because during the past year Hot Doc, the weekly magazine he owns and edits, has published a string of gutsy...
Read MoreNew Reasons Why Politics Matters in the Early Years of the Twenty-first Century. Bernard Crick was revered and respected for his writing against anti-politics and his dislike of intellectual timidity. So he might well have found the following risqué observation both...
Read MoreThe day before I’m due to interview Somsri Hananuntasuk in steamy downtown Bangkok, mean-faced riot police crushed a public rally of red-shirted pro-government protesters and their yellow-shirted opponents. These days, thanks to mobile phone crowd sourcing, even small protests in...
Read MoreIndia’s most respected public intellectual Ashis Nandy recently appealed to his fellow citizens to recognise and deal with a spreading malady in Indian politics. He calls it ‘psephocracy’. The quality of political leadership and government, says Nandy, is compromised by...
Read MoreDear reader, don’t let yourselves be fooled: whatever political charlatans, cynics or melancholics say to the contrary, democracy as we know it is turning green. There’s never been a period in the history of democracy quite like it. Slowly but...
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