Books & Ideas is the English-language mirror website of La Vie des Idées, a free online journal which has gained a large readership and established itself in France as a major place for intellectual debate since 2007.
International Criminal Court judges process hundreds of pieces of evidence before rendering their verdict. Artwork-tools cut through the maze of data, providing an essential artistic and visual support for the administration of justice.
The American sociologist Harrison White made a vital contribution to the development of social network analysis. Besides his work in this field, his theoretical synthesis and his understanding of social formations have influenced a variety of fields such as the sociology of art and economic sociology.
How can we move beyond abstract architecture, where buildings are constructed without their audiences? Peter Ferretto’s method is based on observation, engagement, and the osmosis between teaching, practice, research, and social impact.
On April 25, 1974, a coup d’état led by young officers overthrew a nearly fifty-year old dictatorship in Portugal, inaugurating a revolutionary era. The historian Victor Pereira describes the origins and repercussions of this event—as well as its twists and turns, achievements, and doubts.
The life and work of Antonio Gramsci are inseparable. To grasp the coherence and theoretical depth of the Prison Notebooks, one must read them in the context in which they were written.
About: Bruno Dumézil, L’Empire mérovingien, Ve-VIIIe siècle, Passés composés
About: Jean Boutier, Sandro Landi et Jean-claude Waquet (dir.), Le temps des Italies. XIIe-XIXe siècle, Passés/Composés
About: Régine Le Jan, Amis ou ennemis ? Émotions, relations, identités au Moyen Âge, Seuil
Ukraine’s water networks have been mobilized since the start of the war in 2014. Infrastructure workers are some of the last to leave settlements attacked by the Russian army. Water systems and people are resisting but are reaching the limits of their capacity to adapt to violence and disruptions.
Michel Crozier’s work was shaped by the conviction that organizational phenomena create society. He helped pioneer the tools for analyzing groups established to carry out a common project according to a specific system of action and rules of the game.
The EU aims for net climate neutrality by 2050, utilizing the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) as its main tool. But the climate crisis demands more than market mechanisms. It requires comprehensive planning and legal frameworks that prioritize public over private interests.
After four years of monetary crisis in Europe, with serious political and social consequences for some countries, as well as a general mistrust of Europe’s political and economic models, new analyses bring light on what happened in 2009 and on how to improve the current situation. Books&Ideas presents them in a selection of essays and reviews on Europe, its money, its construction, and its politics.
As populism is rising on a global level, Books & Ideas offers a series on media politics in East Asian countries, to be published over the next two weeks. Though situations are extremely diverse, they can teach us a lot on the relationship between the state and journalists in authoritarian contexts. What role is left for the media to play in non-democracies?
In our second winter selection of reviews and essays, Books & Ideas takes a look back at a few important articles published over the last year on the current developments and trends affecting public spaces for expression and debate : from the traditional media to the world wide web, these different spaces are all under pressure from ongoing changes. Rules and practices are evolving, as the traditional public space is being radically enlarged.
From the margins to which he was confined, Georges Devereux (1908-1985) formulated some of the most original scientific work of his century. In the wake of Freud, whose legacy he firmly defended, Devereux initiated the transcultural practice of psychiatry. François Laplantine, one of his former disciples, reconsiders the legacy of ethnopsychoanalysis’ founder.
Rediscovering an activist thinker who was at the origins of eco-feminism, but remains unknown. Her work inspired an extremely heterogeneous movement, but has her ambition to concretely transform the social, economic and political organisation of society been pursued?
Leading 19th century statesman, political economist, architect of the 1860 commercial treaty between France and the United Kingdom, and campaigner for peace between European nations, Michel Chevalier had also been a dominant voice in the Romantic socialism of Saint-Simonianism: the eclectic nature of his thought would lend itself to a particular vision of Europe, forerunner of today’s European Union.
En Allemagne, le conflit israélo-palestinien divise notamment les sympathisants et militants de la gauche radicale. Parmi eux, le courant « anti-allemand » se distingue par son soutien inconditionnel à l’État d’Israël et une critique de l’anti-impérialisme majoritaire à gauche.
En suivant une méthode généalogique, Philip Pettit montre que la fonction de l’État est d’assurer la sécurité des citoyens, en établissant leurs droits et obligations, et en les protégeant contre les dangers internes et externes.
Contre la tendance des experts à vouloir garder le contrôle exclusif du développement technologique – au nom de l’incompétence du grand public –, Adeline Barbin suggère de confier davantage de pouvoir aux citoyens, afin que les techniques et les sciences soient conformes aux valeurs démocratiques.
À propos de : Isabelle Coutant, Yvon Atonga, Petit frère. Comprendre les destinées familiales, Seuil
À propos de : Naïma Ghermani, Le Droit des exilés. Généalogie du droit d’asile au XVIIe siècle, Puf
À propos de : Wolfgang Asholt, Das lange Leben der Avantgarde. Eine Theorie-Geschichte, Wallstein
