Essay

Essay: Europe’s hard borders December 2012
Matthew Carr investigates the brutal border regimes of our ‘gated continent’ and suggests the possibility of a different politics of solidarity

Unleashing the creativity of labour October 2012
Hilary Wainwright calls for policies that release workers’ creative potential, not just in waged work but beyond

Austerity for the people, welfare for the banks August 2012
Andrew Bowman and Leigh Phillips look at how central banks have used the crisis to carve out a new role – from propping up bankers to toppling governments

Peer-to-peer production and the coming of the commons July 2012
Michel Bauwens examines how collaborative, commons-based production is emerging to challenge capitalism. Below, Hilary Wainwright responds

A different way of doing things May 2012
Robin Murray explores the potential of co-ops to form the basis of an alternative economy

Banking’s groundhog day April 2012
Adam Leaver turns the spotlight on elite power, democratic disconnects and the failure of financial reform in the UK. With a response by Jonathan Stevenson

Oligarchy of the unelected December 2011
David Beetham examines the growing dominance of unaccountable corporate and financial interests

Relax: alternative hedonism and a new politics of pleasure August 2011
Kate Soper on re-imagining fulfllment

The revival – and the retreat – of the state? June 2011
Ha-Joon Chang on the state response to the neoliberal crisis. But it’s the movement that matters, responds Oisín Gilmore

After the spring June 2011
Sami Ramadani considers the response to the popular uprisings from the region’s dictators and other reactionary forces, as well as the role of imperialism

Crack capitalism or reclaim the state? April 2011
John Holloway and Hilary Wainwright debate strategy and tactics for social change

Degrow or die? November 2010
John Bellamy Foster opens a debate on ‘degrowth’, climate crisis and capitalism

Response: A constructive dialogue for change November 2010
John Bellamy Foster's critique of capitalism's ecologically destructive nature is sound, writes Ted Benton, but we need to think less vaguely about bringing together a coalition for change

The Bolivian Road to Socialism September 2010
Mike Geddes argues we can learn from the Bolivian experiences of working in and against the state

Dealing with the devil September 2010
Bertie Russell is sceptical as to whether states can ever be used to move beyond capitalism

Identity canards July 2010
There is nothing inherent in any racial category or gender that makes it necessarily more radical - or reactionary - than another. But difference does make a difference, argues Gary Younge, and the left needs to re-examine its approach to issues of diversity, equal opportunities and representation

Feminism: now for the good news June 2010
Women's oppression remains a major feature of British society, even if it sometimes looks rather different than it did during that last big wave of feminism in the 1970s. But the good news, argues Catherine Redfern, is that feminism is alive and kicking too

Reclaiming the revolution May 2010
It is right to celebrate the re-emergence of feminism, says Laurie Penny, but we need to build a broad movement that has a clear analysis of the economic basis of women's oppression

Climate indebted December 2009
While climate change is an environmental problem, the way we deal with it will have a massive impact on economic development and inequality on a global scale. Tim Jones argues that a transfer of wealth and power from the global North to South is essential to averting climate catastrophe