Books & ideas

Plato Banned, American Democracy Threatened

Nathan Bracher — 2026-02-24T08:00:00Z

Not only in Texas, where a professor was ordered to remove Plato from his syllabus, but throughout the United States, ideological dictatorship has begun. It amounts to nothing less than an attack on universities, the freedom of speech, and thought. How is it possible to resist in the face of this onslaught?

Political Psychiatry in the Twentieth Century

Hervé Guillemain — 2023-12-07T09:00:00Z

Soviet psychiatry and American psychiatry have different histories. Yet, both were conceived, each in their own way, as instruments of control aimed at repressing deviant behavior.

Free from Politics?

Nolwenn Salmon — 2019-09-30T07:00:00Z

This study of China's environmental journalists gives us an insight into the way they navigate the constraints of the Chinese media and their way of conceiving of politics, professionalism and their role as journalists.

The Print Media Reform in Post-Junta Myanmar

Chloé Baills — 2019-09-26T07:00:00Z

Myanmar's internationally acclaimed regime reform has subtly impacted the media environment. Civil society was involved in the process of developing a new legal framework for the press but its liberalizing effects have been mitigated by the shift from ex ante to ex post censorship and the consequences of privatization.

Critical Journalism in China

Émilie Frenkiel — 2019-09-23T07:00:00Z

Despite strict censorship and control, the Chinese party-state and journalists also sometimes interact in a collaborative manner. Constructive investigative reports serve as governance tools to better control local officials and project the image of a responsive government.

Censorship and Authority in Ancient Rome

Clément Bur — 2016-05-12T07:00:00Z

How can political life be rendered moral? By reconsidering the supervision of mores (“regimen morum”) in Ancient Rome, Clément Bur demonstrates that virtue was long considered a necessary condition for preserving the authority of rulers over citizens.

The Bigger Picture

Vanina Géré — 2014-04-17T07:20:21Z

Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer are two important figures in contemporary political art. Visual artists as well as co-writers of the comics Bitterkomix, these two South-African artists came of age in the early days of Post-Apartheid South-Africa. In the following interview, we discover among other things how their art evolved from a scathing social satire against race issues in South Africa to a more global criticism of racism, political interference and military violence.

Anastasie and Massouda

Jérôme Bourdon — 2012-01-19T10:40:32Z

How can journalists accept certain forms of censorship in a state which claims to be democratic? The following article looks at the different threats in Israel to freedom of speech, and shows the ways in which the press and the public believe censorship can be justified under certain circumstances.

Investigating China

Nolwenn Salmon — 2011-12-13T07:32:00Z

In authoritarian China, control of the media exists, but so does control by the media. Two recent books explain how the government has strategically allowed investigative journalism to flourish, strengthened by the market and the expectations of the Chinese population.

Bury and let die

Anna Lawton — 2011-10-12T11:50:35Z

Film censorship in post-Stalin Russia was neither rational, nor a product of ideology. As, historian Martine Godet convincingly shows, it was rather the result of a fluid and unpredictable process, where status and stratagems played a key role.