By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 24 April 2025 (IDN) — The Trump administration is rapidly destroying American democracy. In previous contributions, based on the writings of Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, we have already warned about this. Recently, professors Jennifer McCoy (of Georgia State University), Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth Roberts (of Cornell […]
When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job?
By Azu Ishiekwene* ABUJA, Nigeria | 4 April 2025 (IDN) — He didn’t say when his father asked him, but I wonder what the old man must think in his grave. Jonathan Power is now 83 and arguably one of Europe’s most widely published columnists. He was a young freelance journalist when his father asked […]
The Impact of Afrikaner Identity and Apartheid Ideology
By Jan Servaes BRUSSELS | 3 April 2025 (IDN) — Although the names of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, or other (South African) ‘tech billionaires’ are not mentioned anywhere in Eric Louw’s “Afrikaner Identity: From Anticolonial Struggle Through Hegemonic Nationalism to Disempowered Minority,” this book offers an excellent introduction to understanding the ideology and some of […]
Our Divided World: Insights of a Former Diplomat
Jayantha Kottage* Reviews Somar Wijayadasa’s Memoirs CANBERRA, Australia | 22 March 2025 (IDN) — “History repeats itself, but in such a cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done”, Sydney J Harris Somar Wijayadasa’s memoirs, “Our Divided World: My View from The United Nations” provide a reflective account of global […]
Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia
By Jan Servaes* BANGKOK, Thailand | 29 January 2025 (IDN) — Southeast Asia exhibits a wide range of political structures, cultural systems, depths of political engagement, and histories. Nearly four decades since the advent of the Internet in the region, the online population has grown substantially, hand in hand with increased government capacity to exert […]
Book Review: Saving the World from Nuclear War
By Eric Ross, University of Massachusetts Amherst* AMHERST, Massachusetts, USA | 6 January 2025 (IDN) — In Saving the World from Nuclear War, Vincent J. Intondi offers a concise yet comprehensive examination of the context and legacy of the June 12, 1982, Nuclear Disarmament Rally. Against the backdrop of a period of heightened nuclear anxiety […]