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25 July 2018 — TRNN
Cuba’s National Assembly passed a new draft constitution, to replace its existing Soviet-era constitution via national referendum in a few months. Many changes are in the works, including the recognition of private property and gay marriage. But will it mean real change? We discuss the constitution with Prof. Liz Dore and James Early (inc. transcript) Continue reading this...
8 July 2016 — FAIR
The core orthodoxies of neoliberalism are under attack by populist forces, and commentators are scrambling for a response. Some are suggesting more left-wing red meat. Others, a moment of self-reflection. But a number of pundits are doing that most noxious of political commentary pastimes—equating right and left responses to the failures of globalization and advocating that “elites” should fight back against the forces of inconvenient democracy.
17 May 2016 — FAIR
Defining democracy is a notoriously difficult thing, but much is revealed by how media outlets choose to do so.
One popular metric is called “Polity IV”—a methodology created by the Center for Systemic Peace, headed by Dr. Monty G. Marshall of Georgetown University, which has been cited in prestigious outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times. But few outlets have embraced the method as enthusiastically as the “news explainer” site Vox.
9 July 2014 — The Bullet Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 1006
The commons is not just a battlefield between corporate predators and those who resist them – it is also a source of hope for those willing to imagine a world beyond capitalism. It represents a space between the private market and the political state in which humanity can control and democratically root our common wealth. Both the market and the state have proved inadequate for this purpose. In different ways, they have both led to a centralization of power and decision-making. Both private monopolies and state bureaucracies have proved incapable of maintaining the ecological health of the commons or managing the fair and equitable distribution of its benefits.
3 June 2014 — Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research
Fears has been expressed in Europe about the recent EU parliament voting pattern. Instead of the fear and denouncing the winners we should ask: What causes such an outcome?
14 March 2014 – Lawrence and Wishart
States of imagination (PDF)
Janet Newman and John Clarke
Many people associate the state with bureaucracy or even repression, and have no time for current politicians. But the state also looks after us – in hospitals, schools, social services – and could enable us to better control unscrupulous business and banks. Can we imagine a more responsive state?
15 January 2014 — Soundings
By the time the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill was published in summer 2013 it had become little more than a brutal attempt to shut down civil society influence on electoral politics. Any work in the public domain that could be seen to address matters of public policy would be covered by far stricter rules than previously; but corporate lobbying would be virtually untouched. Continue reading this...
14 January 2014 — New Left Project
Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy By Peter Mair. Verso, 2013.
When George H.W. Bush coined the term ‘voodoo economics’ to describe Ronald Reagan’s plan for Wall Street-inspired growth, he perhaps missed its inevitable corollary: the emergence of voodoo politics. Voodoo economics is based on a single article of faith: that the enrichment of a small minority automatically leads to broader enrichment and enfranchisement. It engenders a politics that is similarly centralised and built on minimal popular participation. In his posthumously published Ruling the Void, the political theorist Peter Mair meticulously documents what an enfeebled, anaemic ‘voodoo politics’ is beginning to look like, in a world where raw economic power reigns practically unchallenged.
8 November 2013 — Electoral Reform Society
Thanks!
This week, after months of resistance, the Government was forced to concede that Part 2 of its Lobbying Bill cannot proceed through Parliament without a pause to consult the civil society organisations which will be affected by it.
30 October 2013 — Media Lens
When someone with interesting things to say is granted a high-profile media platform, it is wise to listen to what is being said and ask why they have been given such a platform. Comedian and actor Russell Brand’s 10-minute interview by Jeremy Paxman on BBC’s Newsnight last week was given considerable advance publicity and generated enormous reaction on social media and in the press, just as those media gatekeepers who selected Brand to appear would have wished.
Express yourself!