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
Against the Populist Temptation
The French and Dutch NO to the project of European constitution was a clear-cut case of what in the "French theory" is referred to as a floating signifier: a NO of confused, inconsistent, overdetermined meanings, a kind of container in which the defense of workers' rights coexists with racism, in which the blind reaction to a perceived threat and fear of change coexist with vague utopian hopes.
Slavoj Zizek, lacandotcom
The French and Dutch NO to the project of European constitution was a clear-cut case of what in the "French theory" is referred to as a floating signifier: a NO of confused, inconsistent, overdetermined meanings, a kind of container in which the defense of workers' rights coexists with racism, in which the blind reaction to a perceived threat and fear of change coexist with vague utopian hopes.
Slavoj Zizek, lacandotcom
Environmental Colonialism: 'Saving' Africa from Africans
Under the banner of saving the African environment, Africans in the last half century have been subjected to a new form of "environmental colonialism"
Robert H Nelson, The Independent Review, VIII, n1, Summer 2003
Under the banner of saving the African environment, Africans in the last half century have been subjected to a new form of "environmental colonialism"
Robert H Nelson, The Independent Review, VIII, n1, Summer 2003
Unrealpolitik: a new New world order?
"The 2012 Battle of Ideas at the Barbican was the best ever. It was bustling with interesting people, punchy debates and new ideas. I can't wait for 2013's."
Philippe Legrain, adviser to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission
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