Olivier Mongin
has been director of the French journal Esprit since 1988 and is co-editor of the La couleur des idées series published by Seuil. He is the author of numerous publications on Paul Ricoeur, democracy, politics, and globalization.
Eurozine Articles
Mega-ports
On the new geography of containerization
Ports as junctures in the globalized transport network, operating mechanisms of access and arrest; the oceans remapped by containerization, cargo-shipping setting the pace of world commerce; harbours as decontextualized zones, nautical memories recycled for heritage. [more]
Will the book enter the digital age?
An interview with Pascal Fouché
The digitization of the book has brought a new balance of power in the trade, with established publishers locked in struggle with the new digital distributors. Pascal Fouché discusses whether publishers are prepared for the dematerialization of the printed word. [more]
Open letter on the public good and the role of generalist journals
The editors of "Esprit" write an open letter defending the role of generalist journals. When the academic world communicates only with specialists, and the "opinion forming" press provides only superficial analysis, generalist journals balance depth against accessibility. [more]
The instability of value
Financial markets, like politics and the media, lurch between confidence and crisis, boom and bust. Olivier Mongin argues that to understand the crisis of contemporary finance, we should be turning not to Smith or Marx, but Walras, the first to posit desire as the cause of value. [more]
From class struggle to place struggle
The local projects of Alberto Magnaghi and the urban renovation of Bernardo Secchi
The term "place struggle" serves to highlight the fact that, in post-industrial societies, conflicts are more and more related to the recovery of democratic space and polities. In a world where global technical flows devour conventional urban space, globalization must be tackled "bottom up". Magnaghi's and Secchi's Italian experiments anticipate this need. [more]
The legislation of 1905
Should France's laws from 1905 regulating laïcité be reformed after a century of changes in the religious composition of French society? [more]


















