Tag Archives: revolution

A conversation with Dan Chirot about his new book ‘You Say You Want a Revolution,’ exploring radical idealism

By Literature, Politics, , , , ,

Those who wish for revolution should be wary, a new book by Dan Chirot warns; they might come to regret that wish should revolution become a violent reality.

Chirot is a professor in the University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies and of sociology. His latest book, “You Say You Want a Revolution: Radical Idealism and its Tragic Consequences” was published in March by Princeton University Press. He is the author or co-author of many articles and several books, most recently “The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World” (with Jackson School colleague Scott Montgomery, 2015). (more…)

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Tech startup bets on slow water to power our future

By Science, , , , , , ,

PORT HURON — It’s a perfect summer afternoon on the Saint Clair River, on the Canadian border just north of Detroit. Pleasure boats skim across the bright blue water as picnickers watch from the grassy bank. They don’t notice the fat black data cable that snakes out of the water, along a concrete pier and through a hole in the brick wall of an old papermill on the opposite riverbank. (more…)

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Die Revolution des Kleinen Prinzen

By Politics, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Parteichef Xi Jinping hat zehn Jahre Zeit, seine ehrgeizigen Reformziele zu verwirklichen. Zum Wohl Chinas und der Welt.

Kaum vom 3. Plenum des 18. Zentralkomitees der KP im November verabschiedet, nehmen die chinesischen Reformen langsam Gestalt an. Chinesische Kommentatoren vergleichen schon jetzt 3/18 mit 3/11. Hinter den in China beliebten Kurzformeln verbirgt sich stets Wichtiges. Am 3. Plenum des 11. Parteitages nämlich setzte im Dezember 1978 der grosse Revolutionär und Reformer Deng Xiaoping die Wirtschafts-Reform in Bewegung. Dies nach dreissig Jahren Maoismus, einer grossen Hungersnot 1958-69 (45 Millionen Tote), der Katastrophe der Grossen Proletarischen Kulturrevolution 1966-76, nach einer Zeit allgemeiner, kollektivierter und egalitärer Armut. Der Rest ist Geschichte. (more…)

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