The Guardian (02/05/2015) presents an acute analysis of the precarious balance of power between parties in Westminster.

Todayszaman (30/04/2015) reports on racist, nationalistic, and discriminatory tendencies among football supporters, with a focus on the Balkans, but seen as a pattern by no means unique to this context.

East Asia Forum (30/04/2015)reports on how multiculturalism in the Korean peninsula – although clearly different between the two Koreas – is blurred by an ethnic nationalism that characterizes society and underpins national identity in both states.

The Economist (03/05/2015)  examines political arrangements in Northern Ireland and in the Irish Republic, and analyses Irish expectations for the British elections.

News25 (05/05/2015)  examines the causes behind rising xenophobia in South Africa, its use as a tool by populist politicians, and its relationship to South African political dynamics.

Global Research (24/04/2015) reports on the implications of the statement made by Pope Francis on Nazi and Stalinist mass killings as the second and third genocides of the 20th century – having already stirred controversy with Turkey by naming the Armenian genocide as the century’s first – and its allusion to the recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide in 1930s Ukraine

Counterpunch (24/04/2015) takes an unusual angle to depict and define the differences between an “unabashed nationalist” and a “fascist”.

NYT (24/04/2015) reports on the latest wave of violence against immigrants in South Africa and analyses the historical reasons and context.

The Huffington post (27/04/2015) highlights a central paradox of US politics, and examines the internal dynamics of political exclusivity on a national and international level.

China Spectator (27/04/2015) takes a look at Chinese maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean and examines the significance of these disputes for other nations in the region.

News compiled by Sabella Festa Campanile

If you would like to write a response to any of these news stories, please email us at sen@lse.ac.uk

A view from the border: Everyday lives in Burma’s conflict zones in times of transition

LSE Arts public exhibition

Dates: Monday 13 April – Friday 8 May 2015

Time: 10am-8pm, Mon-Fri

Venue: Atrium Gallery, Old Building

The photo exhibition portrays the everyday lives of people in Burma’s conflict-ridden Kachin State. Its particular focus rests on areas under control of ethnic rebel groups. While most international media attention is drawn to the sea changes in central Burma, these places of ongoing conflict are often ignored. This is not least due to difficulties of access to an area that is off-limits for international journalists and aid organisations. The exhibition, hence, offers rare insights into the present-day struggle of Burma’s ethnic minorities, including displaced communities and insurgents. It also sheds light on rampant extractive border economies, which fuel protracted armed conflict and infringe on local livelihoods. By doing so it asks whether and how the country’s wider transition affects the everyday reality in the country’s borderlands.

The photographs were taken by two local photojournalists and a doctoral candidate from the LSE. Hkun Li and Hkun Lat are two brothers from Kachin State. They use photography to portray the re-escalation of civil war that has unsettled their youth. David Brenner uses photography to communicate his research on the conflict.

This exhibition is generously supported by the International Relations Department at the LSE.

This exhibition is open to all, no ticket required. Visitors are welcome during weekdays (Monday – Friday) between 10am and 8pm (excluding bank holidays and when the school is closed for Christmas and Easter ).

Please click here for more information

Call for Papers: Patterns of Integration of Old and New Minorities in a Europe of Complex Diversity

October 7-9, 2015, Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg), Romania

While numerous autochthonous ethnic, national and regional groups formulate claims on power-sharing and minority rights, pushing their host states to accommodate diversity, increased mobility has contributed to the further proliferation of cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity in the European Union and its south-eastern vicinity. Commentators label this as “complex” diversity, as many classically more homogenous societies become more and more multicultural, and various forms of transnational citizenship become a widespread phenomenon.

This increasingly complex diversity of the European societies, together with the global spread of supranational norms and values of human rights is continuously undermining the Westphalian system of homogeneous nation states. The question arises how these challenges can be reconciled, what best practices can be identified for both “old” and “new” minorities, and whether the arrangements for the former can be a model for the latter, mobile minorities. In sum, the central question this conference aims to address is how social cohesion can be achieved in diverse societies.

The organizers welcome theoretical analyses and empirical case studies on the causes, consequences and possibilities of accommodation of complex diversity against the backdrop of the multi-layered system of governance within the European Union. The contributions should outline in what way political and societal cultures, institutional arrangements or public policies contribute to or hinder the accommodation of complex diversity.

The deadline for applying to the conference is July 1, 2015. Please complete your abstract (250-300 words), together with a brief bio, including your academic/institutional affiliation on the following link. Panel proposals including a chair, 4-5 speakers and a discussant are also welcome. The selection of participants will be carried out no later than July 20, 2015.

The conference will be held in Cluj-Napoca, at Sapientia University.

Further questions should be submitted to the e-mail address minorityconference@gmail.com

Carnegie Endowement for International Peace (15/04/2015)   reports on the situation in the Egyptian parliament today, in comparison with the immediate aftermath of the 2011 uprising, emphasizing the difficulties of the house in executing its constitutionally mandated role due to a lack of pluralism.

European Council on Foreign Relations (20/04/2015) analyses a shift in Chinese foreign policy in terms of a move from a geopolitical stance of “strategic military” to “strategic economy”.

BBC (18/04/2015) describes the enormous human cost of the 1971 Bangladesh war, and the renewed wave of violence and executions in a country which is still fighting to define its identity.

The Guardian (17/04/2015)  analyses the issue of migration into Europe in the light of Western moral responsibilities and the resources we possess to help migrants.

The Guardian (15/04/2015) looks at the almost complete absence of Wales and Welsh issues – in stark contrast to Scotland, for example – from the mainstream parties’ national political debate.

News compiled by Sabella Festa Campanile

If you would like to write a response to any of these news stories, please email us at sen@lse.ac.uk

The Guardian (08/04/2015)  analyses the behaviour of the English parties in the approach to the elections, and highlights Westminster’s irrational focus on UKIP while overlooking the SNP.

OpenDemocracy (10/04/2015) features an essay examining the semantic construction of collective memory as the basis for current identities. Verbalised memories or narratives substitute experience in the construction of a nation’s collective memory, defined around an opposition between ‘them’ and ‘us’; among others, Orientalism and Balkanism stem from this tendency.

BBC (12/04/2015) reports on Pope Francis describing the killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during Word War I as a ‘massive and unprecedented tragedy’ and ‘the first genocide of the 20th century’, and on Turkey’s predictably defensive reaction.

Channel New Asia (11/04/2015) describes the former Indonesian president’s presentation at the inaugural Singapore Forum, in which he analyses ‘global seismic shifts’, their impact on the region, and the importance of Asian cooperation within ASEAN.

OpenDemocracy (10/04/2015) examines and compares the conception of use of violence for political ends as it is in the Arab world and in eastern Europe.

The Guardian (10/04/2015) reports on Catalonia’s efforts to bring working hours into line with the rest of Europe’s other economies.

News compiled by Sabella Festa Campanile

If you would like to write a response to any of these news stories, please email us at sen@lse.ac.uk