By Mark Bahnisch on January 23, 2010
When disaster strikes, there’s always a reflex to suggest that politics is a dirty word, that humanitarian considerations trump any sort of consideration of the context of the impact of horrendous events. There’s something of the ‘act of God’ and [...]
Posted in Activism, Developing world, Disasters, International, Media, Politics, Sociology | Tagged agency, Aristide, Ben Ehrenreich, debt, disaster, disaster capitalism, earthquake, facebook, global sociology blog, haiti, History, humanitarian response, Hurricane Katrina, IMF, Katrina, Medecins San Frontieres, Media, Naomi Klein, Peter Hallward, Rebecca Solnit, representation, Saskia Sassen, Slate, Slavoj Žižek, social context, Sociology, US, USA |
By Mark Bahnisch on January 19, 2010
Numerous stories on Australian television tonight indicated that aid, rescue efforts, and medical care are all reaching Haitians belatedly, very inadequately, and in a somewhat disorganised fashion. The logistical and other challenges involved in responding to a catastrophe of this [...]
Posted in Disasters, International, Media, USA | Tagged aid, Cuba, disaster, Doctors Without Borders, earthquake, haiti, La Figa, Medecins San Frontieres, Port-au-Prince, US, USA |
By Mark Bahnisch on January 3, 2010
Open Democracy has asked a range of its contributors to answer the following questions: A volcanic decade in global politics ends amid deep unease about the world’s ability to rise to key 21st-century challenges. openDemocracy writers draw breath and look [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Climate change, Developing world, Economics, Environment, International, Markets, Politics, Security, Sociology, Terrorism, The Web, War | Tagged agriculture, Authoritarianism, barack obama, China, civil liberties, Climate change, conflict resolution, Copenhagen, decade, democratisation, Developing world, development, ecology, end of history, food security, GFC, global financial crisis, global politics, globalisation, human rights, humanitarianism, inequality, international law, Madagascar, Mark Lynas, millennium goals, neo-liberalism, Open Democracy, peacekeeping, retrospective, statism, Terrorism, torture, UN, USA, War, world economy |
By Mark Bahnisch on December 22, 2009
In the wake of the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, we’re starting to see some more thoughtful analyses which go beyond the proximate causes of the imbroglio to gesture to more structural factors. Robert has already cited George [...]
Posted in Climate change, Developing world, Disasters, Economics, Energy, Environment, Imperialism, International, Politics, Sociology, USA | Tagged barack obama, Climate change, collective action, Copenhagen, Energy, George Bush, george monbiot, Naomi Klein, oil, Open Democracy, political economy, Politics, Sociology, US, USA |
By Robert Merkel on May 20, 2009
The long-term future of our technological civilization depends on China and the USA participating in a serious global deal to cut CO2 emissions. But there’s long been skepticism whether either will be prepared to act. Now, there’s reports that China [...]
Posted in China, Climate change, Developing world, Environment, USA | Tagged China, cprs, emissions intensity, energy efficiency, USA |
By Kim on May 5, 2009
Game changing. Displays the irrelevance of the GOP. Tea bag parties inspired by Fox News and all that crew coincide with a drop in partisan identification to 25% of the electorate. Etc. Certainly, the party swap of Pennsylvania Senator Arlen [...]
Posted in Feminism, Media, Politics, Polls, USA, Women | Tagged American politics, Arlen Specter, barack obama, Clarence Thomas, Democrats, Feminism, GOP, left, Pennsylvania, progressivism, Republicans, tea bag parties, USA, Women |
By Guest Poster on January 27, 2009
In the 2005 “dramatic documentary” The American Ruling Class, big oil heir turned Harper’s editor turned armchair socialist Lewis Lapham narrates the career choices confronting a group of shiny young Yale graduates. With their future at the crossroads, Lapham asks, [...]
Posted in Activism, Ethics, Policy, Sociology, Technology, USA | Tagged Alain touraine, class, Ethics, Lewis Lapham, neo-liberalism, Obama administration, Obama staffers, Politics, public service, social change, social movements, Sociology, Technology, USA, Wall Street, welfare policy, West Wing |
By Mark Bahnisch on January 14, 2009
I have a review of Matthew Hindman’s sceptical tome over at Inside Story.
Posted in Activism, Blogging, Books, Writers & Writing, Elections, Media, Politics, Sociology, The Web, USA | Tagged Activism, Australia, book, comparative politics, internet, Matthew Hindman, political science, political sociology, Politics, review, The Myth of Digital Democracy, USA |
By tigtog on September 16, 2008
Brendan and Malcolm have provided a nice little distraction, but it’s time to look at other world news: to wit, another US financial giant has hit the deck (two, if you count the takeover of Merrill Lynch as well as [...]
Posted in Disasters, Markets, USA | Tagged chapter 11, collapse, global economy, lehman brothers, merrill lynch, stock market, USA |
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