Media
Democracy is Failing the Planet
Published 13 February 2012 | St. James Ethics Centre – IQ2 Oz, ABC Big IDEAS Why should we assume that democracy is the best of all political systems? Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Arab world demanding freedom and democracy. And countless numbers have been prepared to die in [...]
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.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
A report on 2011 actitivites at the WZB
Bericht 2011 Forschungsprofessur Theorie, Geschichte und Zukunft der Demokratie Prof. John Keane Ph.D. Die Forschungsprofessur konzentriert sich auf die Geschichte und Zukunft demokratischer Ideen, Institutionen und Akteure. Leitend ist dabei die Einsicht, dass Demokratie eine zeit- und geschichtsgebundene Staatsform darstellt. Dies ist auch für die Analyse gegenwärtiger Entwicklungen von Belang und bietet Anknüpfungspunkte für Kooperationen [...]
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