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The mosque and the palace
The Arab monarchies must not be undermined by the Islamist movements, but rather should come to some sort of working arrangement with them. The Arab Spring for want of a better term continues to...
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Mali, dynamic of war
The French-led military intervention in Mali both accelerates the war in the west African country and transforms its character. The prospect is of a long-term engagement that Islamist forces far beyond...
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A warning and an invitation, to Europeans
On December 6, 2012, the Leader of France’s Left Front addressed a packed audience in the European Institute of University College, London on a progressive alternative to the human crises caused by...
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Colluders in sexual violence: don't let them off the hook
Jimmy Savile, Cyril Smith, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, recent events within the Socialist Workers Party: all four cases show how socially powerful figures can benefit from a 'culture of collusion'...
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Welfare debate marks opportunity to renew Beveridge’s legacy
Why has Britain's welfare state lost the popularity it once enjoyed? How can it regain this role and where does Labour fit in?It wasn’t always like this. Social security was once a strategic political...
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Falling through the cracks in Britain 2013
Strivers vs skivers. Last week saw a game show-like battle between our politicians over the proposed benefit cap. What do they know? Here, a Citizen's Advice Bureau adviser maps the predicament of...
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The welfare state is dead – what is rising from the grave?
The old welfare state cannot survive the global financial crisis. Beneath the Punch and Judy debate, what is the Coalition putting in its place? And what is the alternative?“Friends”, said Iain Duncan...
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US shores up waning influence in Iraq by bolstering Kurdish superiority
Iraq, on the first anniversary of US withdrawal, is struggling to cope, not merely with a raging sectarian crisis between the Shia-led Central Government (CG) and an increasingly resentful...
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Pakistan’s existential crisis
With sectarian tensions, weak institutions and yet another political crisis possibly in the making, the situation in Pakistan looks more dire than ever.Shiite Muslim taking part in a Ashura procession...
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Xi Jinping: a new kind of politician?
Just months into Xi Jinping’s tenure as Chinese Communist Party leader, one thing has become eminently clear – in both style and substance, Xi Jinping is no Hu Jintao. Xi Jinping in February 2012....
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Civic Republicanism: a North Star for hard times
The key principle of Republicanism is to minimise domination wherever it is found. The Zapatero governments in Spain showed how this idea can shape the policies of nation states. More work must be done...
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Kidney transplant case signals deep flaws in UK immigration policy and practice
Home Secretary Theresa May’s relentless pursuit of kidney transplant patient Roseline Akhalu is one more sign of crisis within the Home Office and its UK Border Agency. A supporter of Akhalu...
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The trials of Roseline Akhalu
Why is the Home Office continuing a cruel and ludicrous campaign against a woman who they have accepted will definitely die if returned to Nigeria?In 1999, 48-year-old Roseline Akhalu’s husband, a...
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Winter in Russia: cold indoors as well as out
Most radiators in urban Russian homes are fed by hot water transported from heating plants miles away. Aging pipes frequently burst, causing hardship and even fatalities. Could a return to an older...
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Beyond the politics of representation: the political economy of indigenous...
An excerpt from a discussion of the art of painting practised by Gonds in the city of Bhopal in central India, which makes a case for moving the discussion of tribal or adivasi art away from...
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Is the world riding a wild horse? Read Mark Helprin to understand American...
Helprin’s latest novel, In Sunlight and in Shadow, can be read as an elegy for the American Century. Helprin’s emphasis on invidividual responsibility, as well as his backwards-lookingness,...
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Welcome to UKOGBANI!
As more evidence of royal interventions in the British political system emerge, we should consider how public support for monarchy could be reconciled with radical constitutional change. What would a...
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Islamic 'Resistance' in the southern suburbs of Beirut
Islamic Resistance is normally understood as military activism: armed actors using the same ideology and undertaking distinct political aims sometimes using force. But in Dahiyye, 'Resistance' can also...
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In militias we trust: Libya's conundrum
The rapid disintegration of Muammar al Gaddafi’s armed forces and police meant that the militias born out of the revolution were the only ones equipped to fill the security vacuum left behind. Libya...
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The Promised Land 2013
This month's Europe at a glance, a collection of visual thoughts on Europe and where it is heading - if anywhere.(click on the image to enlarge)"BEST COUNTRY TO BE BORN IN 2013 =...
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