Topics of Interest » Democracy in the 21st Century »
Since 1945, the language and institutions of democracy have taken root in so many different geographic contexts that more than a few presuppositions of democratic theory have been invalidated. As democracy spread through the world, the world has made its mark on democracy, even though the metamorphosis remains largely unregistered in the Atlantic-centred literature on democracy….
The China Labyrinth
James Madison famously remarked that a popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy. The present government of the People’s Republic of China has set out to disprove this rule. Rejecting talk of farce and tragedy, its rulers claim their authority is [...]
Political Reflections on Antarctica – Workshop Description
The 2012 Annual Symposium of The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) Tuesday, 20 November 2012, Canberra Workshop Description Background: Social science perspectives on Antarctica are limited in scope and quantity. In the fields of political science, international relations, legal studies and public policy, there is ample literature on subjects such as governance [...]
Interview with Al Jazeera on Václav Havel (2)
Al Jazeera English talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at the University of Sydney about Václav Havel, 23 December 2011.
Interview with BBC World on Václav Havel
BBC World interviews talks to John Keane about Václav Havel, 23 December 2011.
Remembering the many Václav Havels
During my first encounter with him, in Prague in 1984, when everything seemed hopeless, I was struck by the man’s hedgehog resilience. Here was a rarity: an unusual figure, intense but witty, a clear-headed thinker and a wonderful writer, a courageous individual blessed with a razor-sharp sense of irony; a chain-smoking man of letters whose [...]
Interview with SBS on Václav Havel
SBS World News Australia presenter Anton Enus talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at University of Sydney, 19 December 2011.
John Keane recalls meeting Václav Havel
An interview about Vaclav Havel with The World Today’s Eleanor Hall, ABC Radio, 19 December 2011 Listen to Audio Transcript As mourners gather in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to pay respect to their late former president, tributes to Vaclav Havel have been pouring in from leaders around the world. US president Barack Obama says the man [...]
Václav Havel: a biographer’s account
Václav Havel has died aged 75. A poet and playwright, a political writer, dissident and a politician, Havel was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia, and the first President of the Czech Republic founded in 1993. The Conversation spoke with Sydney University Professor of Politics John Keane, author of Václav Havel: A Political Tragedy [...]
Interview with Al Jazeera on Václav Havel
Al Jazeera English talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at the University of Sydney about Václav Havel, 19 December 2011.
Global Occupation Movement
John Keane was guest of Radio Australia (ABC) on 21 November 2011 to talk with Isabelle Genoux about the global occupation movement. Listen to Audio