NLR 85

articles
Göran TherbornNew Masses?

What social forces are likely to challenge the supremacy of capital in the coming decades? An assessment of potential bases of resistance—from traditional communities overrun by the global market to factory workers and an expanding yet amorphous middle class.

André SingerRebellion in Brazil

A sociological portrait of the protests that gripped the country in June 2013. Crossovers of class, ideology and generation on the major cities’ streets, as portents of deeper shifts under way.

Perry AndersonCounterpuncher

Retrospective on the liberated life and work of Alexander Cockburn, whose last book, A Colossal Wreck, completes a dazzling triptych. Shaping influences of family, place and political epoch on a singularly radical temperament, and the keen-edged prose in which it found expression.

Tor KreverDispensing Global Justice

Protector of the weak or tool of the strong? Origins and evolution of the International Criminal Court, and its geopolitical tacking through a decade of imperial warfare.

Teri ReynoldsDispatches from Dar

Realities of emergency medicine in Tanzania, and the process through which new facilities and existing systems mutually adapt to each other.

interview
Thomas PikettyDynamics of Inequality

A leading French economist discusses the historical evolution of global wealth and income imbalances. After the levelling shocks of the 20th century, will the 21st bring a return to the longue durée dominance of inherited fortunes?

article
Joshua BersonThe Quinoa Hack

Staple of Andean diets long before the Spanish conquest, quinoa has lately become a global health-food commodity—with dubious results for Bolivia’s campesinos. Josh Berson maps out the limits of food justice pursued through consumerist techno-fixes.

reviews
Past Participating

Marcus Verhagen on Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells. Antecedents and critical implications of the recent wave of participatory art.

Economics of Insomnia

William Davies on Jonathan Crary, 24/7. Is slumber itself threatened by the advance of market forces?

Southern Questions

Dylan Riley on Ira Katznelson, Fear Itself. Historical reframing of the New Deal for the age of Obama.