Books & ideas

The Japanese Press: a Global Exception?

César Castellvi — 2021-01-11T08:00:00Z

Although little known abroad, the Japanese press holds an important place in the global media landscape, two of the top circulation newspapers being Japanese dailies. How do these titles thrive, and how do they shape the public debate in Japan? This article studies specificities of the Japanese media market and some of its recent changes.

The Regime of Opinion

Alain Policar — 2019-05-06T07:00:00Z

The present era tends to blur the line between the true and the false. Democracy, which is based on the conflict of opinions and hence the horizon of a common truth, is consequently compromised. Yet for Myriam Revault d'Allones, this threat also hangs over the imagination.

Ukraine's Many Voices

Lucie Campos — 2014-05-23T12:01:09Z

In the run-up to Ukraine's presidential election, political scientist Tatiana Zhurzhenko reflects on the conditions for political representation in a situation of civil conflict. The present state of public opinion is difficult to assess, both inside and outside the country, while an ongoing information war fuels fears and rumours in the regions of Eastern and Southern Ukraine.

The Forming of Opinion

Marion Chottin — 2013-10-30T09:52:23Z

When, and in what historical and conceptual context, did the notion of public opinion make an appearance? What theoretical role has it taken on? Can it be considered a concept, or is it among those words that are if not empty then at least ambivalent and volatile, and whose unmasking is incumbent upon philosophy?

Why Financial Crises Give Birth to Legends

Nathan Marcus — 2012-08-31T07:18:00Z

In our haste to explain away the 2008 crisis, we have tended to put all the blame on bankers and regulators. This simplification, while soothing, might be just as misguided as Germans' or Austrians' tendency in the 1920s and 1930s to put the blame on France and Britain for their economic difficulties, or later for World War Two. Crises are the stuff of legend, but we should find other ways to cope with them.

Economics: a Cure for Pessimism

Emmanuel Bétry — 2011-12-22T10:39:51Z

In a book devoted to economic anxieties in France, two economists well known in the blogosphere try to make their field accessible while conveying its complexity.

Is the Internet an instrument of democracy?

Patrice Flichy — 2008-02-26T11:47:21Z

Is the Internet an opportunity for or a threat to democracy? The sure way to a Balkanisation of public opinion or the seedbed of new deliberative practices? Patrice Flichy presents here an important synthesis of the research – including his own – available on the subject. The picture he paints dispels a good few assumptions…