Leviathan comes to Beijing
Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese politics and director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney asks: What is the Communist Party of China? How can its true nature and use of power be grasped? For insight, look to the English 17th-century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes.
Africa at a fork in the road
Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and ex-President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, introduces an eBook he co-edited that illustrates some of the ambitious steps needed to unleash the tremendous potential of the African people towards the development of their nations.
The Yellow River: a history of China’s water crisis
Historian David Pietz argues China’s current water problems are deeply rooted in its past. Past choices and physical realities of the North China Plain continue to shape the present and future.
The siren song of financial realism
Financial realism has enchanted European polities. It is a song the powerful love to hear. But a song that will destroy all that is good and humane about Europe explains Paul Tyson, Honorary Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of Nottingham.
Magna Carta: a beggarly thing, a mess of pottage
If Magna Carta is the cornerstone of liberty, why did the Levellers, democratic radicals of the 17th century, reject it as ‘containing many marks of intolerable bondage’?
Blueprint for Change
Everything in the universe is changing and social systems are no exception to this constant flux. But change is not an easy thing to accept, especially when it threatens the status quo and the world’s perception of normalcy.
China – climate hero or villain?
China’s efforts to peak Greenhouse Gas Emissions and move away from coal means other large emitters have no excuse for inaction, writes Joe Curtin of the Institute of International and European Affairs.
Time to fight for the BBC
Peter Oborne, the former chief political commentator of the Telegraph explains that George Osborne and his neoliberal backers are not just attacking the BBC. They are launching a concerted assault on Britain’s democratic public culture.
The crisis of democracy in Japan
Shujiro Yazawam Professor Emeritus from Hitotsubashi University and Seijo University in Tokyo explains that Japan is on the brink of changing from a pacifist state to one prepared to go to war if necessary. Now, more than ever, we must refocus international scrutiny on the country’s social movements.
Publisher of the European Renaissance
Aldus Manutius is the man who transformed the printed book into the most effective tool for the accumulation and dissemination of human knowledge of the last five centuries.