Books & ideas

Money Is the Gatekeeper of Politics

Raymond La Raja — 2020-10-21T09:33:58Z

One is mistaken to think that corporations dominate the electoral process in the United States is misplaced. The problem is actually deeper: money structures the field of ideas and sets the terms of the debate.

The Oligarchs' Charter

Timothy Kuhner — 2020-10-20T07:00:00Z

With taxpayer suffrage abolished and universal suffrage achieved, political participation in our democratic societies should no longer be conditioned on property ownership. However, as Timothy Kuhner shows, politics remain subservient to capital.

Elections for Sale?

Emmanuelle Avril — 2020-10-14T07:00:00Z

Great Britain only belatedly passed certain laws regulating the funding of political parties. With a small share of public money and varied sources of private funding, this system is accused of favouring large donors and extremism. These criticisms invite us to think of a fairer system.

Democracy Distorted

Ivan Ascher & Marieke Louis — 2020-10-13T07:30:00Z

Is it really the case, as is often alleged, that money decides everything about elections? As the US presidential election is looming, La Vie des idées/Books & Ideas and Public Books team up to examine the influence of money in today's electoral democracies.

The Limits of Transparency

Eric Phélippeau — 2020-10-13T07:00:00Z

In France as in the United States, transparency has become a core democratic requirement, and is the cornerstone of all the laws that claim to regulate the funding of political life. But this art of disclosing information often coexists with the ability to conceal it.

Listen to the Birds

Priscilla Wald — 2020-09-07T07:00:00Z

Once seen as omens, birds continue to point to the future: a few years ago, their change of behavior heralded the beginning of avian flu. Two anthropological studies focus on these avian sentinels. A closer observation of the relationships between species, they argue, would help us better prepare for the pandemics to come.

How Fiction Can Help Us Navigate the Pandemic

Chandra Mukerji — 2020-07-02T07:00:00Z

During the Black Plague, Boccaccio's Decameron provided readers ways to laugh through the pandemic. A few centuries later, a new kind of pandemic strikes: with Covid-19, the world as we knew it seems forever changed. Can fiction help us imagine new ways of existing together in times of uncertainty?

Building a Society That Values Care

Kathryn Cai — 2020-06-22T07:00:00Z

With the population aging in the US as in many Western countries, COVID-19 has only revealed an increasingly urgent need for care. But the lack of support for caregiving is an ongoing and increasingly shared struggle. How can we care for the caregivers, and build a society that values care?

Towards an Ecological Cinema

Olivier Dorlin — 2019-01-23T07:00:00Z

Hollywood cinema tends to represent climate change in catastrophist and sensationalistic movies. By contrast, a new type of ecological cinema emerges in which the issue of sustainability is taken into account not only as a theme, but also within the film production process.

Ending the Anthropocene

Claire Sagan — 2019-01-22T07:00:00Z

Predictive models in ecology generally assume that capitalism will be maintained. However, as Claire Sagan argues, adapting to the climate crisis requires that we go beyond the capitalist hegemony and renounce the notion of “Anthropocene”.