Add a Comment (1)

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Hilary Wainwright, Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy Seagull Books, 2009

Red Pepper

Are people allowed by current governments and political systems to realize their creative and political potential? If not, why not? And how should the knowledge not of experts and elites but of ordinary folks be valued and used? Hilary Wainwright talks about democracy, political agency, and efforts to push back against top-down ways of governing.

 Add a Comment (0)

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony Verso, 2004

Paul Ginsborg, Democracy Profile, 2008

A wealthy media magnate named Sylvio Berlusconi was first elected prime minister of Italy in 1994. What have his three stints as Italy's leader meant for democracy and dissent? Paul Ginsborg contends that Berlusconi's use of the media, of clientelism, and of notions of negative freedom has stymied meaningful popular political participation.

 Add a Comment (0)

 Email This

Digg this!

 Share & Bookmark

Sara Paretsky, Writing in an Age of Silence Verso, 2008

What does private eye V I Warshawski have to do with the Patriot Act? Crime fiction writer Sara Paretsky, creator of the acclaimed Chicago detective, speaks out about feminism, literature, and dissent in the post-9/11 era.