Counterpunch (16/02/2015) features an analysis of the non-violent components of the struggle which helped to win American independence from the British Crown – the campaign of civil disobedience which played an often under-emphasized role in both the freedom struggle and in the shaping of American identity.

Al Jazeera (15/02/2015) reports on how the elitist and chaotic nature of the European project has brought about the resurgence of nationalism across the continent, and how the rise of Syriza and other formerly marginal movements express the imperfection of the EU project and form an antidote to a European identity crisis.

China Policy Institute Blog (11/02/2015) analyses Shinzo Abe’s attempt to use the crisis surrounding Islamic State’s holding of a Japanese hostage in order to reframe Japan’s national security agenda and to advocate constitutional reinterpretation of a pivotal element of the country’s post-World War II identity, seen by his critics as a potential threat to Japan’s democracy.

The Guardian (16/02/2015) reports key policymaker Powell’s analysis of the worrisome implications of recent events in Libya for Tunisia, Egypt, southern Europe and eventually the UK, warning of the dangers of the country’s political vacuum, and of the need to contain the situation in order to avoid a “Somalia on the Mediterranean”.

BBC (16/02/2015) features the reflections of Nigerian Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on the two main presidential contenders – framed as ‘problematic candidates’ – and on the imperative for the new government to address the religious and social divisions between Nigeria’s Muslim north and Christian south in order to avoid further threat of dismemberment.

News compiled by Sabella Festa Campanile

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