Reading for Battle
Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.
Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.
International Relations & Development
Why Africa is leaving Europe behind
Africans are relishing something of a reversal in roles. The former colonial powers in Europe are wrestling with debt crises, austerity budgets, rising unemployment and social turmoil. By contrast much of sub-Saharan Africa can point to robust growth, better balanced books and rising capital inflows.
William Wallis, Financial TImes, 18 August 2011
Africans are relishing something of a reversal in roles. The former colonial powers in Europe are wrestling with debt crises, austerity budgets, rising unemployment and social turmoil. By contrast much of sub-Saharan Africa can point to robust growth, better balanced books and rising capital inflows.
William Wallis, Financial TImes, 18 August 2011
The Arab spring's bottom line
You can have all the democracy in the world, but without addressing economic injustice, reforms will be hollow
Khaled Diab, Guardian, 12 August 2011
You can have all the democracy in the world, but without addressing economic injustice, reforms will be hollow
Khaled Diab, Guardian, 12 August 2011
Syria and the hole at the heart of the Arab revolts
Events in Syria suggest that nobody has the authority to resolve the Arab crisis – not the US, not the regimes, and sadly not the rebels either.
Brendan O'Neill, spiked, 8 August 2011
Events in Syria suggest that nobody has the authority to resolve the Arab crisis – not the US, not the regimes, and sadly not the rebels either.
Brendan O'Neill, spiked, 8 August 2011
Mubarak is gone, but Mubarakans still rule
The public humiliation of the former president is an attempt to show the New Egypt as free and over its past. But it isn’t.
Rob Lyons, spiked, 4 August 2011
The public humiliation of the former president is an attempt to show the New Egypt as free and over its past. But it isn’t.
Rob Lyons, spiked, 4 August 2011
The New Old World
The New Old World looks at the history of the European Union, the core continental countries within it, and the issue of its further expansion into Asia. It opens with a consideration of the origins and outcomes of European integration since the Second World War, and how today's EU has been theorized across a range of contemporary disciplines
Perry Anderson, Verso, 1 August 2011
A road to somewhere: what do Africans need most—aid or infrastructure?
There is no controversy in saying that shoddy infrastructure is holding the continent back. But how to finance more of it? Some want to divert aid money. Suggesting that an engineering firm might make better use of charity than Oxfam or Save the Children sounded like heresy once. But the terms of the debate have shifted—for several reasons.
Economist, 21 July 2011
There is no controversy in saying that shoddy infrastructure is holding the continent back. But how to finance more of it? Some want to divert aid money. Suggesting that an engineering firm might make better use of charity than Oxfam or Save the Children sounded like heresy once. But the terms of the debate have shifted—for several reasons.
Economist, 21 July 2011
Revolution spinning in the wind
What is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, which have toppled their leaders, and in Libya and Syria, fighting to topple theirs
Economist, 16 July 2011
What is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, which have toppled their leaders, and in Libya and Syria, fighting to topple theirs
Economist, 16 July 2011
Adapt or Die
Of course, no one would deny that there are cyclical elements in the downturn of 2008. But they were accompanied by structural imbalances that had been building over at least 15 years, and that are at the heart of the US economy’s inability to bounce back in a normal cyclical way.
Michael Spence, Project Syndicate, 14 July 2011
Of course, no one would deny that there are cyclical elements in the downturn of 2008. But they were accompanied by structural imbalances that had been building over at least 15 years, and that are at the heart of the US economy’s inability to bounce back in a normal cyclical way.
Michael Spence, Project Syndicate, 14 July 2011
Liverpool Waters 'could threaten heritage status'
Plans to develop Liverpool's waterfront could threaten its status as a World Heritage Site, it has been claimed.
BBC News, 12 July 2011
Plans to develop Liverpool's waterfront could threaten its status as a World Heritage Site, it has been claimed.
BBC News, 12 July 2011
Copper mining will crush ancient Afghan site
Teams in Afghanistan scramble to save artifacts before a Chinese company starts mining work at Mes Aynak, an area filled with the ruins of 5th century Buddhist monasteries.
Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2011
Teams in Afghanistan scramble to save artifacts before a Chinese company starts mining work at Mes Aynak, an area filled with the ruins of 5th century Buddhist monasteries.
Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2011
What is China Thinking? - Alan Hudson
"Nine out of ten these debates hit the right balance between heated argument and useful exchange between people who wouldn't usually be talking to each other. An extremely stimulating environment."
Tim Parks, novelist, essayist and translator
follow the Academy of Ideas
