Change?, Godfrey Hodgson
A single word was Barack Obama's ringing slogan as he set out on the long march to the White House. The key appointments he has made as the world waits for him to take the controls of the American government into his hands promise, in key areas, continuity more than change.
Godfrey Hodgson was director of the Reuters' Foundation Programme at Oxford University, and before that the Observer's correspondent in the United States and foreign editor of the Independent.
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The lessons of Mumbai, Paul Rogers
The attacks in Mumbai of 26-29 November 2008 are as devastating as any since those of 11 September 2001. Their spectacular media impact is part of their character. This very worldwide publicity, however, can make it easy to forget that many other major incidents in these seven years - even outside Afghanistan and Iraq, the two main theatres of the "war on terror" - have similarly been carefully mounted complex operations against multiple targets.Paul Rogers is professor of peace... more »
Britain’s neo-liberal state, Gerry Hassan Anthony Barnett
The global financial crisis exposes anew the flaws of a British polity that resists democratic modernisation. In a sweeping overview, Gerry Hassan & Anthony Barnett declare the United Kingdom state unfit for purpose.
The world we have lived in, created from the twin oil-price shockwaves of 1973 and 1979 and validated in the eyes of many by the events of 1989, is at last suffering its own crash. The era of Thatcher and Reagan, inflated by their offspring Clinton, Bush and Blair; the era... more »
Progressive future is beyond Parliament, Tom Griffin
Tom Griffin (London, OK): Last night saw the last in the Comment is free/Soundings series of debates on Who Owns the Progressive Future? Guy Aitchison sums up over at CIF:
Debates like this rarely provide definitive answers. At best they can throw up new possibilities and explore alternatives. One lesson I took from them is that if there is any hope for the future it is not to be found in parliament but in the countervailing forces to what has been called the "neoliberal... more »
Devolution in Northern Ireland: The Never-ending Story, Fair Deal
Fair Deal (Slugger O'Toole): The Northern Ireland Executive met last month for the first time since June. Two letters signified an agreement between the DUP and Sinn Fein on policing and justice (Letter 1 and letter 2 (pdf files)). Many are questioning what the 150+ day hiatus was about?
The Northern Ireland peace process is an instrumental one, consistently agreeing a limited number of issues with more difficult ones left for a later date. The hope is that successful implementation... more »
Thailand: misrule of law, Tyrell Haberkorn
Thailand's crisis endures. The opposition protestors who have occupied Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport for a week may have agreed with police on 1 December 2008 to allow a limited airlift of stranded passengers. But the destabilising effects of their bitter confrontation with the People's Power Party (PPP) government of Somchai Wongsawat threatens to corrode Thailand's democratic order even further. What is happening to this formerly stable southeast Asian polity,... more »
Mexico's war on drugs, Kathleen Blake Bohne
How does one defeat an enemy who is more prepared, more ruthless, and awash in the cash necessary to buy the best weapons, surveillance and people? This is the conundrum faced today by Mexico’s government and people as the bloody fight between and against the cartels has escalated into a gruesome war. In September and October, more people were murdered in Tijuana than in the same period in Baghdad (which, aside from the obvious factor of war, is also four times the size of Tijuana). This... more »
Realigning US relations with Russia, Ryan Koslosky
The Obama administration faces stark new geopolitical realities. The unipolar world order which emerged at the end of the Cold War proved unable to suppress regional ethnic and sectarian conflicts. President-elect Obama will be assuming power at a new juncture, one which sees the rise of multiple regional powers, ones which are both empowered and constrained by the global economic system. One such regional power is Russia.
The foreign policy implications of the Georgian conflict... more »
Dmitry Medvedev's power-game, Andreas Umland
Yeltsin's 1993 Constitution, which is still valid today, has never been a particularly balanced basic law. The Russian political system is called ‘semi-presidential.' It has even been claimed that it follows the French model. In fact, the emergence of the Russian presidency in 1991 did not have much to do with international experiences, any more than did its strengthening through the constitution of 1993 and later on. These developments were rather a mutation of the Soviet model of... more »
Claude Lévi-Strauss at 100, Dan Sperber
Claude Lévi-Strauss, who is 100 years old on 28 November 2008, is perhaps the most famous anthropologist in the history of the discipline (with the possible exception of Margaret Mead). Among French intellectuals, he cut a singular and imposing figure, second to none and close to none. By making their hearts beat faster with the promise of intellectual adventures, he attracted to anthropology generations of students - I was one - who otherwise would have become philosophers, historians or... more »
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