Open Democracy

Biography

OpenDemocracy publishes high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves.

Latest articles from Open

• How Energy Availability Affects Economies and Societies

  Published 07 February 2012 | viewed 665 times

  So familiar has the social economy of energy become in modern societies, so routine its extraordinary wastefulness, so toxic its effects, that the capacity for…

• Outrage over Dams Being Built as Part of India's Hydro Energy Scheme

  Published 24 January 2012 | viewed 2,255 times

  In demonstrations barely reported in the media, peasants and students in the North-eastern Indian state of Assam are fighting together against a proposed gargantuan network…

• Why Our Economy and Environment are Calling for Development Over Growth

  Published 03 October 2011 | viewed 586 times

  As the depth and breadth of our financial/economic and environmental crises deepens, it is urgent to ask whether the way we are going about searching…

• Transitioning to a Sustainable Economy is the Way Out of Crisis

  Published 01 September 2011 | viewed 1,353 times

  S&P, in downgrading the USA, made the right call for the wrong reason. Keynesians like Jeffrey Sachs see this but need to go even further:…

• The Implications of Germany Decision to End Their Nuclear Energy Programme

  Published 28 July 2011 | viewed 4,870 times

  Germany’s anti-nuclear movement is the poster-boy of its kind in Europe, even worldwide. Over the course of nearly forty years this potent, enduring campaign swayed…

• Economic Reality Undermining Colombia’s Ambitious Environmental Plans

  Published 19 May 2011 | viewed 982 times

  The divergence between rhetoric and reality in the environmental policies of President Juan Manuel Santos points to real tensions between development and environment, between the…

• Will Fukushima Trigger the Changes Japan Has Been Waiting For?

  Published 07 May 2011 | viewed 473 times

  Fukushima is not Chernobyl, Prime Minister Naoto Kan insists. His government draws comfort from the fact that Fukushima emitted only a fraction of the radiation…

• Qatar: The Arab World’s Rising Star

  Published 15 April 2011 | viewed 1,596 times

  In recent weeks, the Gulf state of Qatar has emerged as a leading advocate of international intervention on the side of the anti-Gaddafi rebels in…

• The Race for Arctic Energy Resources

  Published 11 April 2011 | viewed 2,658 times

  Soon ships will be able to sail across an open Arctic Ocean during the summer months. The low humming of freight vessels will be a…

• United States Confronted With a New Awareness of its Military and Political Constraints

  Published 11 March 2011 | viewed 2,010 times

  The momentous protests in the Arab region, and especially Libya, present the Barack Obama administration with a serious foreign-policy test. The conflict in this part…

• Qatar’s Growing Influence and Economy and the Dangers That Come With It

  Published 03 February 2011 | viewed 255 times

  The small Gulf state of Qatar has translated economic assets and creative diplomacy into extraordinary global influence. But the eclipse of regional giants such as…

• Crisis in the Arab World: Energy, Water, Food and Justice

  Published 01 February 2011 | viewed 2,462 times

  The desperate act of an unemployed university graduate living in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid sparked a wave of popular unrest that in January…

• 2011: Transition to a New Global Order

  Published 27 January 2011 | viewed 2,125 times

  Three issues will dominate international relations in 2011: the United States’s relations with Europe, the emerging powers, and various countries of the global south; the…

• The Politics of Fear and Paranoia

  Published 08 January 2011 | viewed 1,705 times

  We live in a highly organized climate of fear. If security organizations depend upon fear and paranoia to sustain their existence, Wikileaks suggests using the…

• Understanding Energy Provision and Conflict

  Published 06 January 2011 | viewed 1,590 times

  As we are forced to change the way we think about energy, the energy consumer is caught between need and the increasing risks involved in…

• Tough Choices Ahead in Afghanistan

  Published 27 December 2010 | viewed 1,205 times

  Afghanistan continues to edge towards the precipice. State-building efforts in the country are still plagued with inefficiency, corruption and disorganisation, whilst international coalition forces in…

• Ireland’s Financial Meltdown: Down But Not Out

  Published 10 December 2010 | viewed 1,857 times

  Ireland’s acceptance of international financial aid to its stricken finance sector is widely seen in the country as a shameful loss of sovereignty and the…

• India On the Road to Great Power Status

  Published 16 November 2010 | viewed 1,300 times

  President Obama’s recent visit to India represented another considerable and defining step on India’s journey to great power status. Although not reaching the heights of…

• An Optimistic View on Tackling Climate Change

  Published 29 October 2010 | viewed 317 times

  Man-made climate change faces us with unprecedented challenges. A global warming of significantly more than 2°C might trigger irreversible tipping points in the Earth system…

• America’s Unhealthy Obsession With the Chinese Exchange Rate

  Published 15 October 2010 | viewed 950 times

  The US obsession with the Chinese exchange rate is a classic example of blaming foreigners for domestic woes. And we’ve been here before. In the…