openSecurity editor Robin Wilson reflects on the work of German intellectual - and frequent openDemocracy contributor - Ulrich Beck, who sadly passed away on 1 January.
The international media can cast an unflinching spotlight on wars but when the war is over the spotlight is suddenly switched off—would that it were that simple for those, including children, left traumatised in its wake. Film review.
The unreality of 'realism'
Why openSecurity? 'Security' is of course normally an arena which is exclusive and secretive, heavily and unreflexively male-dominated, and focused on sustaining
The arrest of the decades-long leader of the 'republican movement' in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams, has provoked international surprise. It shouldn’t—but it does provide a lesson in the perils of suborning the rule of law.
As an international inquiry on the bloodshed in Sri Lanka in 2009 looms, one Tamil asylum-seeker explains why it matters to him.
While the world stops for Nelson Mandela’s departure from it, his iconic status is unquestioned. Yet there is a more complicated underlying narrative to tell.
Last week, Belfast City Council voted to flag the Union Jack only on designated days, sparking protest. What does this say about Northern Ireland today, and does it tally with the recent census results?
The European left should be the most committed and consistent advocate of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in order to prevent discrimination. But further than that, it should espouse a cosmopolitan politics to manage diversity in a progressive manner. And that politics is inconceivable
This week has seen sectarian rioting between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast. Why does violence continue in Northern Ireland?
The big story of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections was not the re-instating of the DUP and Sinn Fein, but the dramatic fall-off in turnout. Voter apathy reveals the failures of devolution in such vital areas as education, public service management and the control of paramilitary violence
The odd thing was that it turned out the man whose communist spectre frightened the 19th century world saved it in the 21st. Marx would have chortled at the irony.
Tony Blair's effort in bringing about the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland is often heralded as his greatest achievement, but the approach he took to the peace process has left a mixed legacy.
