Reset
Eurozine
Reset
2006-07-31
Summary for Reset 96 (2006)
In this issue of Reset:
Greece comes back to the origins of democracy with James Fishkin's deliberative polls. A Pasok mayoral candidate chosen as in the times of Clistene and Pericles. Could it be the first exemplary step to improving our democracies? In an interview, George Papandreou, president of Socialist International, says he is convinced that participation is the only way to recover our fragile democracies. Dan Werner, PBS television producer, emphasizes the value of television experiments to improve public opinion. Blogger Mario Adinolfi stresses the relevance of the Net for direct democracy.
The family freedom index as a guide to understanding the changes happening in the Italian family. Maurizio Mori, a bio-ethicist; Alessandro Rosina, a demographer; and Marco Politi, a journalist and expert on Catholic matters, comment on the need for flexibility among Italian couples.
Voices from liberal America. Benjamin Ross tries to understand the difficulties that Democrats are facing in achieving middle-class consensus. Joanne Barkan talks about the beginnings of Dissent, the historical US leftwing magazine. Peter Dreier remembers the mythical figure of Rosa Parks, the lady of civil rights and anti-racist icon.
China viewed from the US. In Marshall Berman's opinion, the recent boom should make China re-discover Karl Marx. Daniel A. Bell talks about the experience (and the difficulties of communication/comprehension) of a liberal professor in the largest university of the Asian giant.
In an essay, sociologist Franco Crespi describes the reasons behind a laicism open to dialogue and exchange, and different from the ideological representation that is often given.
Anselmus, a saint against the Crusades. Surprise: the father of Church and of the ontological argument was angry with the Christians at war. Giancarlo Bosetti and Ermanno Bencivenga describe the philosopher's sensibility that went against the trend.
Philosophy and psychoanalysis, sisters at odds. Francesco Saverio Trincia reconstructs the complicated relationship between the two disciplines, focusing on the difficulties of a dialogue, especially in the Italian context. In an interview, Mauro Mancia emphasizes that for Freud the real challenge is not so much philosophy as neurosciences.
What is left of the Italian football scandal after the victory of the World Championship? Carlo Verdelli and Riccardo Luna reflect on journalists' faults and on the reason why they were not able to report "Moggi's system" before the wiretappings. Economist Battista Severgnini stresses the structural character of the crisis in Italian football and points toward some possible exit ways. Starting from a Maastricht of football. Filippo Ricci explains what role football plays in Africa: from politics to war and back.
Enfer by Danis Tanovic and all the other nightmares of a separation. From the movie by the Slavic director, a focus on the crisis of a couple. Melania Mazzucco, Muriel Drazien, Paola Casella, and Danis Tanovic in discussion.