The agreement to international rules - from banking and trade to health and arms-control - is essential to global order. But the process of rule-making is at present undemocratic and prone to failure. The way ahead is to put dissent at the heart, says Frank Vibert.
The debate between James S Fishkin and Arthur Lupia in openDemocracy's dLiberation blog is like a choreographed professorial wrestling-match. In one corner of the ring are those (like
Among the many skills required of a driver in India is the ability to read the queue ahead. Is it merely a bullock cart with a wheel missing, an overloaded
On 1 July 1942, two weeks before the French authorities sent her to die in Auschwitz, Irène Némirovsky confided in her notebook that the future offered only a choice between
The German presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2007 is already, two months before Finland passes on the baton, being anticipated with a heightened sense of
The "no" results in the May-June 2005 referenda in France and the Netherlands on the European Union's proposed constitution were followed by predictable statements that the
If France votes no in the 29 May referendum on the treaty establishing a European Union constitution, the most sensible reaction for other member-states and the EUs institutions would
We live in the transition between the end of one order and the beginning of another. It is a time when morbid symptoms of the past and crude but vigorous
The revelations of Paul Burrell about the goings on in St James Palace are being reported around the world. The insatiable appetite of the British public for more about Diana
Six principles
The first principle is that the fight against terrorism must continue until it is won. The cry we cant stop short has been interpreted simply as an
The European Union has been a success beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. Yet at present, among the public at large, it is going through a period of ill-defined
The attacks on the United States have provoked an inevitable outpouring of instant comment. In the world of public policy, instant reactions are almost invariably wrong. Policy framed in the
