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literature

The Soviet architecture

Lukasz Stanek: Architecture in Global Socialism. Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War

DIPLOMATI: The Soviet Union and the Eastern European satellite states gained influence in the world through a so-called gift diplomacy that spawned streaks of architectural beauties. By Hans Henrik Fafner
Hans Henrik Fafner -
literature

Rethinking democracy

David Stasavage, John G. Matsusaka: The Decline and Rise of Democracy. A Global History from Antiquity to Today, Let the People Rule. How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Populist Challenge

Democracy: The Greeks do not have the patent on the idea of ​​«democracy». And are referendums a necessity to get democracy back on track?
Hans Henrik Fafner -
literature

Just a feminist?

Sylvana Tomaselli: Wollstonecraft. Philosophy Passion and Politics

FREEDOM: Mary Wollstonecraft wanted a whole new society. Her demands for women's rights were only a consistent part of this. She put her trust in the French Revolution, and went on a red-hot attack on Edmund Burke, a former comrade-in-arms.
Kjetil Korslund -
ESSAY

Africa and «the brutish museums»

Amin Maalouf, Block Museum of Art, Dan Hicks, Alice Procter: Leo Afrikaneren, Caravans of Gold – Fragments in Time – Art Culture and Exchanges Across Medieval Saharan Africa, The Brutish Museums, The Whole Picture

Cultural history: It is necessary to relinquish ownership of the colonial loot. The treasures of European museums have been stolen. And what about the Cultural History Museum in Oslo – which is also on the list of museums that have Benin's stolen bronze sculptures?
Dag Herbjørnsrud -
literature

At the top of Hitler's wish list

Despina Stratigakos: Hitler's Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway

BUILT NORWAY: Nazi Germany's plans for Norway were extensive. We were to become part of the Great Germanic Empire. In the years 1940–1945, large parts of Norway were a construction site.
Kjetil Korslund -
literature

Revolution in a social and political vacuum

Walter Armbrust: Martyrs & Tricksters. An Ethnography of the Egyptian Revolution

EGYPT 10 YEARS AFTER: Walter Armbrust has written about the time after the first eighteen days of the revolution: If one considers the revolution on Tahrir Square in Cairo as a rite of passage, there are several good reasons why it went wrong.
Hans Henrik Fafner -
literature

Religious notions

Laurence Louër Translated by Ethan Rundell: Sunnis and Shi'a: A Political History

SUNNI AND SJIA: The religious contradictions between the two main directions in Islam are not so great. But in conflicts between countries and groups, they are used for all they are worth.
Kjetil Korslund -
literature

What is freedom without governance?

Cass R. Sunstein: On Freedom

PATERNALISM: Sunstein advocates active social manipulation to help us make wiser choices. In the book On Freedom, he questions whether free choice actually promotes human welfare.
Henning Næs -
literature

Spear tactics and the camouflage of rights

Clifford Bob: Rights as Weapons. Instruments of Conflicts, Tools of Power

: ABUSE OF POWER: Human rights and law in general are a positive value that can, however, end in cynical manipulation. New book perspectives the concept.
Hans Henrik Fafner -
literature

Steinhardt grasped the geology

Marcia Bjornerud: Timefulness. How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World

GEOLOGY: Everyone can and should learn more from geology, says Marcia Bjornerud. Her well-meaning attempt to bring the subject's insights to life, on the other hand, falls on deaf ears.
Kjetil Korslund -
literature

The misunderstood revolution

Amin Saikal: Iran Rising. The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic

IRAN: Solidly argued status of the Iranian state 40 years after the fall of the shah.
Hans Henrik Fafner -
literature

Forced accuracy

Alberto Alesina, Carlo Favero, Fransesco Giavazzi: .Austerity When It Works and When It Doesn't

: In the midst of this era of austerity, three economists believe they have found the explanations for when austerity policies work. However, they deftly bypass the question of who it works for.
Nina Trige Andersen -
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Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly (March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1) with international book reviews, essays and comments – in addition to the physical newspaper and PDF, the articles are eventually published online here (see also the newsletter).

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