John Keane | Topics of Interest

John Keane | Articles in the Press, Democracy Field Notes, Democracy in the 21st Century, Media | No comment

Pirates Ahoy! A New European Challenge to Party Politics

Pirate Party campaign ‘ship’, Cologne, March 2008 Tobias Walter/flickr Is there life after conventional parliamentary politics? That’s the intriguing question on the lips of many German citizens this weekend as supporters of the Pirate Party assemble in the north German city of...

28 April 2012

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John Keane | Democracy Field Notes, Media, Media and Democracy | No comment

Mediacracy: Rupert Murdoch’s "Toxic Shadow State"

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="237"] Keith Rupert Murdoch, 2011 DonkeyHotey/Flickr[/caption] When Rupert Murdoch gives further evidence to the Leveson Inquiry this week it will mark another turning point in his public disgrace. The legal noose around the neck of News International, on...

23 April 2012

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General | Why Democracy? | No comment

Why Democracy (Γιατί δημοκρατία;)

"Why Democracy", a Greek-language publication by Professor John Keane, published by Nefeli Books (Athens, 2012) More info (PDF) -> Read Relevant Articles by Greek Newspapers TA NEA and Kathimerini An introduction by Antonis Liakos, Professor at the Department of History and Archaeology, University...

17 April 2012

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General | Democracy Field Notes, Democracy in the 21st Century, Media | No comment

Bob Brown and the Virtue of Humility

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="237"] Bob Brown at the University of Newcastle, 1986 University of Newcastle Cultural Collections/Flickr[/caption] Archaeologists tell us that Sumerian kings had their face slapped once a year by a priest to remind them of the importance of humility....

14 April 2012

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John Keane | Democracy Field Notes, Democracy in the 21st Century | No comment

Israel’s "Fighting Democracy": A Few Things That Need Saying

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="237"] Günter Grass, at the New York Public Library, June 2007 Flickr[/caption] Günter Grass has dared say publicly in a poem what needed saying: the present Netanyahu government of Israel is a potential danger to its own people,...

14 April 2012

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General | Media and Democracy | 1 Comment

Prologue to Monitory Democracy in the Era of the New Media Galaxy

John Keane’s prologue to Ramón A. Feenstra, Democracia Monitorizada En La Era De La Nueva Galaxia Mediática: Based En La Propuesta De John Keane (2012) Read PDF version of prologue Vivimos en una era revolucionaria de la abundancia comunicativa en la cual...

13 April 2012

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General | Democracy Field Notes, Democracy in the 21st Century, Media | No comment

News from Athens

Wednesday 4th April 2012: a funny old day, though my field notes record that it began well. An early morning message arrives from Athens, from Periklis Douvitsas. He’s the editor of the publishing house looking after Why Democracy. It’s shortly to...

09 April 2012

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General | Democracy Field Notes, Democracy in the 21st Century | No comment

Feeling Faint in Burma

“I’m feeling a little delicate”, said Aung San Suu Kyi politely to the mainly foreign press pack, gathered like beginner pupils at her feet. She added, with a gentle smile, that “any tough questions and I shall faint straightaway”. The...

04 April 2012

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General | Democracy Field Notes, Media and Democracy | No comment

The Booboisie

While still on the subject of H.L. Mencken, it’s worth remembering one of his deliciously light-hearted jibes at parliamentary democracy. In the course of warning of the dangers of popular ignorance, especially in a 1930s world bristling with economic and...

28 March 2012

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The politics of disillusionment: can democracy survive?

Disquiet and disaffection, like a fast-moving swarm of sticky locusts, are spreading through the drought fields of democracy. Look around, beyond the borders in which you’re living. Public disenchantment with politicians and official “politics” is on the rise everywhere, stirred...

27 March 2012

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Topics of Interest