The defense of science and reason is increasingly being instrumentalized by lobbyists hiding behind NGOs. This obscurantist undermining of experts benefits the industrialists these lobbyists are working for, and threatens the foundations of science.
The ordered occupation of public spaces by the masses played a central role in the rituals of the Soviet state. Drawing on a long tradition of Russian holidays, mass festivals were supposed to display for all to see the happy marriage between leaders and citizenry. They also contributed to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union.
Bolcheviks en Campagne extensively documents the balance between coercion and persuasion in the Bolsheviks’ treatment of the peasants. However, the author underestimates the peasants’ agency and should have distanced himself more from the image of a backward peasantry, which the government used to justify collectivization and repression.
Opium was a constant feature of the power struggles which affected Republican China, and is often perceived as one of the main social problems of the period. Xavier Paulès’ complete re-assessment of the issue is thought-provoking, and he challenges a number of received ideas in his monograph on the town of Canton.
This study of the role of moving images within the discourse on urban planning is a reflection on the effects of the visual culture of Chinese cities on policy and development. It demonstrates a more sophisticated use and broader vision of mass media than Chinese Party officials are usually granted.
