Current events - Literal Magazine

2012: The Emperor of All Calamities

2012: El emperador de todos los cataclismos

Stephen Houston

In commenting on the French Revolution, Alexis de Tocqueville noted, “[n]ever was any such event so inevitable yet so completely unforeseen.” By contrast, the prophecy, dread, even hope, that attend the “2012” phenomenon…

Current Events

A Chinese Curse

Maldición china

Paul Krugman

Economist, prolific writer and sought-after international speaker, Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman gave his economic perspective at Haverford College on the new challenges we are facing and what we need to do in order to…

Current Events

2012: The Conscious Emergence of the Collective Unconscious

2012: La conciencia emergente del inconciente colectivo

Paula Reeves

When it comes to the Sowing And the Dawning Grant it be a Green Road A Growing Path. Give us a Steady Light, A Steady Place, A Good Light, A…

Current Events

El Tea Party jacobino

Mark Lilla

Traducción de David Medina Portillo Hace tiempo publiqué un artículo titulado “A Tale of Two Reactions” (14 de mayo de 1998). Por esas fechas me impactaba el hecho de que la sociedad…

Current Events

Solidaridad para flojos: Contra el activismo digital

Malcolm Gladwell

Traducción al español de David Medina Portillo 1 A las 16:30 p.m. del lunes 1 de febrero de 1960, cuatro estudiantes universitarios se sentaron en la cafetería de Woolworth en…

Current Events

¿Existe una sociedad civil cubana? Políticas de participación en Cuba

Armando Chaguaceda

Las protestas que en los últimos meses han convulsionado (y modificado) el status quo de diversos regímenes árabes y democracias occidentales han actualizado el debate sobre los problemas de la…

Current Events

Lessons for Modern-Day Autocrats: Farewell to the PRI

Lecciones para el moderno autócrata: Adiós al PRI

Yvon Grenier

What is following the Cold War is not the “end of history,” as we all know by now. Authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes of all stripes continue to coexist, often quite…

Current Events

The Arab Spring and the Latin Winter

La Primavera Árabe y el invierno latino

Miguel Ángel Centeno

Why do people rebel? This is one of the central questions of social science. Scholars on the side of power have often supported studies meant to make sure that change…

Current Events

Cyber-Protest is Cheap, Digital Disobedience Easy: The Dangers of Digital Disobedience

Julian Baggini

In 1964, a 46-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for his participation in many terrorist activities, including the preparation, manufacture and use of explosives for the purpose of committing…

Current Events

The Future of Power

El futuro del poder

Joseph Nye Jr.

Joseph Nye Jr. is a Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He coined the term soft power in the late 1980’s.…

Current Events

In Memoriam David Viñas (1927-2011)

Gisela Heffes

Este texto es un íntimo homenaje a David Viñas; homenaje que no busca una forma acartonada, rígida o formal que probablemente su nombre y fi gura en algún momento acrediten.…

Current Events

Revolution in Arabic: Staging Collective Will

Revolución en árabe: la voluntad colectiva en escena

Muhsin al-Musawi

Satellite publics became aware of Arab popular revolutions only after the rise of the Egyptian youth against the senile autocracy of Hosni Mubarak on the 24th of January 2011. There…