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Category - ideology

  • 11 Aug 2012
    Useless, or undervalued and stigmatised?

    The dismissal of whole sections of society as comparatively worthless by politicians and the media seems bad enough, but in a recent radio discussion about global population growth, the term ‘useless eaters’ was used, says Berandette Meaden. This chilling phrase is used by some people to refer to anybody who consumes resources without producing any. A dangerous philosophy is being created on this basis. It stigmatises disabled people, the poor and many more besides.

  • 17 Feb 2012
    The myth of 'religion' and the tyranny of Dawkins’ discontinuous mind

    Richard Dawkins' oft-publicised arguments about beliefs rest on classificatory dividing lines between ‘religion’ and ‘science’, ‘faith’ and ‘secular’ reason. In his passionate rebuttal, Dr Timothy Fitzgerald suggests that, contrary to popular perception, the armies of generalities so deployed have little meaningful content, but instead serve to legitimate rhetorical positions behind which lie the framework of liberal capitalist ideology derived from colonialism.

  • 14 Jan 2012
    The 'Arab spring' in historical perspective

    How will the popular uprisings in the Arab world affect the future of states and regimes in the region? All possible outcomes are shadowed by the fate of the contending ideologies and movements - nationalism and socialism, secularism and Islamism, dynasticism and liberal constitutionalism - that have dominated the Arab political landscape in recent decades, says Sami Zubaida. His overview of their rise and fall both illuminates a complex history and indicates the scale of the challenge facing democratic reformers today.

  • 22 Apr 2008
    Re-assessing Turkey's faith and secularism battle

    The real struggle in Turkey is not between the religious and the non-religious, but between those who value pluralism and those who want the victory of their ideology.

  • 3 Mar 2008
    Fairness, trade and free market ideology

    Free market ideologues have used Fairtrade Fortnight to attack what they regard as counter-productive do-gooding, says Simon Barrow. But what does freedom mean in economic terms, and is fairness something to be left wholly to markets?