The World Today

April & May 2012: How web campaigning is changing politics

Dot-orgs are now global players, mobilising millions and changing the debate through tech-savvy marketing techniques. Andrew Marshall analyses their rise and evaluates their impact.

Articles

Egypt blacked it out, but the political fallout makes a net loss very expensive, writes Dave Clemente

Governments have no escape from a volatile vox pop says Tina Fordham

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been forcing the pace of Iran's nuclear programme. Photo: AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

History shows that sanctions have a poor record of success, argues Hassan Hakimian

François Hollande delivering a speech on the campaign trail. Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

François Hollande, the French presidential candidate, rejects austerity as the cure for the current crisis, writes Jonathan Fenby

Campaign posters on display in Tehran on the eve of a parliamentary election. Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

From the editor

This year three of the permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, France and Russia – are holding elections, while a fourth, China, is embarking on its once-in-a-decade leadership transition. All over the world governments are having to deal with an increasingly volatile public opinion.

Also in this issue

Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Berlin is playing the long game rather well, writes Stewart Fleming

One of the most original thinkers on global strategy and technology discusses the future of the nation state, the focus of British foreign policy and how good can emerge from crisis

The people of Wukan protest. Photo: AFP Photo/AFP/Getty Images

The village that said: No more!

Photo: Wen Zi/Color China Photo/AP Images

Xinghai Fang on why liberal economies need not fear China

In the circular economy nothing is wasted. Repair, not replace, is the byword. Felix Preston on a 30-year-old idea whose day is about to dawn

Southeast Asian nations are helping each other to tame the might of China and the United States, write Tinh Dinh Le and Cleo Paskal

Argentine soldiers on their way to occupy the Royal Marines base in Port Stanley. Photo: Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images

It took a taskforce to liberate the Falklands, but deft footwork at the UN paved the way for victory. Michael Maclay describes the hero of the hour

Anti-regime protesters display Syria's pre-Baath flag. Photo: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

Will Assad be allowed to pull off the same trick as his father, asks Bernd Debusmann

The Man To Unseat Putin

Instant digital images lack the documentary’s narrative, writes Burhan Wazir

Mark Malloch-Brown on the prospects for a diplomatic solution in Syria

Gareth Price finds few grounds for hope in Ahmed Rashid’s latest work

Mario Monti. Photo: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bye-bye bunga bunga: Peter Popham marks Berlusconi’s passing as Italy braces itself for austerity

Which states are leaders and which are laggards in closing the gender gap?

Rick Falkvinge is an IT entrepreneur who launched the Swedish Pirate Party six years ago, championing freedom of communication and online privacy. In the 2009 European elections, 25 per cent of Swedish voters under 30 voted for it, winning it two seats in the European Parliament. Falkvinge is now the party’s ‘political evangelist’.