“Change we can believe in”.1 We all remember the hope-laden slogans of the brilliantly executed Obama 2008 presidential campaign. This was much less a promise of change than a return to “normality” after the deviant years of the Bush-Cheney regime.… Continue Reading
Democracy is one of the most popular yet disputed ideas around. Invoked by the US to justify invasions, it is also the stated aim of the Arab revolutions. Israel claims democratic elections give it the right to murder Palestinians, while… Continue Reading
Nothing illustrates the weakness of black political leadership today more starkly than a comparison between responses to the Tottenham riots of 1985 and the wave of rioting that began in Tottenham in 2011. On both occasions it was the death… Continue Reading
In November 2008, after Barack Obama had won in the presidential election in the US, Slavoj Žižek wrote one of his very best pieces: “The reason Obama’s victory generated such enthusiasm is not only that, against all odds, it really… Continue Reading
Video recordings of the weekend school held by International Socialism on 22 and 23 September 2012. Introductory themes Neil Davidson and Alex Callinicos Discussion and responses The Arab revolutions Anne Alexander and Dalia Mostafa Discussion and responses Eastern Europe 1989… Continue Reading
New Left Review has produced an excellent spring number (II/74). The lead is a very timely and informative article on contemporary Russia by Tony Woods.1 He emphasises the extent to which the new regime continues to be shaped by the… Continue Reading
David Held, Cosmopolitanism: Ideals and Realities (Polity, 2010), £15.99 History will tell whether David Held is best remembered for his role in developing the London School of Economics’ intimate relationship with the Gaddafi regime in Libya or for his voluminous… Continue Reading
Stephen Eric Bronner, Socialism Unbound: Principles, Practices, and Prospects (Columbia University Press, 2011), £20.50 In this second edition of his book Socialism Unbound, Stephen Eric Bronner argues that liberalism cannot provide answers to the continuing problems of capitalism, and that… Continue Reading
Prodromos Panayiotopoulos, Ethnicity, Migration and Enterprise (Palgrave, 2010), £58 Academia is constantly filled with new buzzwords. In the last decade, transnationalism has become a prominent new concept with numerous conferences and journals emerging that attempt to deal with this supposedly… Continue Reading
Domenico Losurdo, Liberalism: A Counter–History (Verso, 2011), £22 The Oxford English Dictionary defines liberalism as the “support for or advocacy of individual rights, civil liberties, and reform tending towards individual freedom, democracy, or social equality”. In his book Liberalism: A… Continue Reading