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Politics and government

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

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Explore more Society

People relaxing in a lush garden with inflatable flamingos and laptops by a pool.

essayProgress and modernity

Authenticate thyself

Data has created a new and paradoxical social order: the promise of emancipation is made possible by classifying everything

Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy

Photo of an elderly woman resting her forehead on a large stone bust outdoors near a decaying concrete structure.

videoHistory

In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy

20 minutes

Photo of a large conference with a speaker on stage in traditional attire and an audience seated facing a large curved screen.

essayPolitics and government

How to run the world

We need new forms of global diplomacy to transcend the current pathetic bargaining of national and commercial interests

David Van Reybrouck

Photo of a woman in a white dress and purple headscarf leaning against a wall, covering her face near green foliage.

essayHuman rights and justice

Struggling to wake

After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?

Ayisha Osori

A busy urban street with cars, a motorbike and a truck passing by a neon-lit building at sunset.

essayPoverty and development

How Kerala got rich

Fifty years ago it was one of India’s poorest states, now it is now one of the richest. How did Kerala do it?

Tirthankar Roy & K Ravi Raman

Aerial black-and-white photo of a town surrounded by rolling hills and agricultural terraces.

essayNations and empires

Passion and Palestine

More than any other conflict, Israel/Palestine has provoked extraordinarily fervent emotion throughout the world. Why?

Derek Jonathan Penslar

A man standing on a balcony of a brick apartment building, with tarps and debris in foreground.

essayPolitics and government

The end of neoliberalism?

The case of Mexico shows that, despite a proliferating discourse that it is over, neoliberalism is as relentless as ever

Inés Escobar González

A speaker on stage addressing a large audience in an indoor venue with screens displaying his image.

essayReligion

Prosperity versus liberation

How Pentecostalism’s prosperity gospel replaced Catholic liberation theology in Latin American life

Elle Hardy

Painting of a historic city square with a tall clock tower, statues, carriages, and groups of people in period clothing.

essayHistory

Why history is always political

In his work on republicanism as a living idea, J G A Pocock showed that contesting history is part of a robust civic life

Rosario López

Vintage black-and-white photo of a colonial-era courtroom with seated officials and standing West African defendants in traditional attire.

essayHuman rights and justice

What’s in the rule of law?

The British Empire used a great democratic ideal to manufacture racial difference and rationalise colonial domination

Kanika Sharma

Black and white photo of cars in traffic on a multi-lane motorway seen from above.

essayPolitical philosophy

The order of anarchy

How San Francisco’s free rides system can help us understand anarchist theory and the work of the late, great James C Scott

Reyko Huang

Photo of a protest in front of a historic building with statues. Signs read “End Racism Now!” and other messages.

essayNations and empires

What is decolonisation?

There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?

Lydia Walker

Photo of a soldier in camouflage standing on a busy market street surrounded by people and colourful fabrics.

essayNations and empires

Colonies of former colonies

India’s ongoing subjugation of Kashmir holds portentous lessons about the nature of contemporary colonialism

Hafsa Kanjwal

A street with an American flag a mural of a vintage town scene and a black pickup truck passing by.

essayPolitics and government

The spectre of insecurity

Liberals have forgotten that in order for our lives not to be nasty, brutish and short, we need stability. Enter Hobbes

Jennifer M Morton

Painting of a woman with a sword defending a fort from attackers; other figures fight with swords and wooden poles and carry stones.

essayRace and ethnicity

The forging of countries

Two distinct and conflicting forms of nationalism – civic and ethnic – helped create the nation-states of Europe

Luka Ivan Jukić

Photo of a light beige woven fabric with black and red borders on the sides, frayed edges at the bottom, and a black background.

essayPolitical philosophy

Citizens and spinning wheels

For Indians to be truly free, Gandhi argued they must take up traditional crafts. Was it a quixotic hope or inspired solution?

Benjamin Studebaker

Aerial view of an industrial site emitting smoke, surrounded by snow-covered buildings and landscape, under a clear blue sky with birds flying overhead.

essayPolitics and government

Governing for the planet

Nation-states are no longer fit for purpose to create a habitable future for humans and nature. Which political system is?

Jonathan S Blake & Nils Gilman

Three women in traditional attire stand outdoors in a dry landscape. One person carries a child on their back while another holds a walking stick.

essayAnthropology

The Ju/’hoansi protocol

Hunter-gatherer societies are highly expert in group deliberation and decision-making which respects both difference and unity

Vivek V Venkataraman

a crowd of women dressed in black face the camera

essayPolitics and government

India and indigeneity

In a country of such extraordinary diversity, the UN definition of ‘indigenous’ does little more than fuel ethnic violence

Dikshit Sarma Bhagabati

A group of women, some wearing hijabs and masks, hold up signs with handwritten text in Arabic script during a protest.

videoPolitics and government

How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power

33 minutes

Female healthcare worker examines a tattooed man’s eye in a hallway decorated with colourful artwork.

essayEconomics

Who bears the risk?

Under the guise of empowerment and freedom, politicians and business are offloading lifethreatening risk to individuals

Suzanne Schneider

Painting of a scene in a historic European street with men dressed in colourful Renaissance attire, with hats and capes, and women in period clothing.

essayPolitical philosophy

The battles over beginnings

Niccolò Machiavelli’s profound insights about the violent origins of political societies help us understand the world today

David Polansky

Seen from inside, a couple eat a basic meal whilst outside in an alleyway a queue of mostly older people wait their turn

essayPolitical philosophy

Liberal socialism now

As the crisis of democracy deepens, we must return to liberalism’s revolutionary and egalitarian roots

Matthew McManus

Painting of a royal figure in elaborate attire with a sceptre, crown, and ornate background featuring a pillar and grand drapery.

essayThinkers and theories

Against power

As a republican, Sophie de Grouchy argued that sympathy, not domination, must be the glue that holds society together

Sandrine Bergès & Eric Schliesser