Culture and Ideas
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The mystery of Finals classifications
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Four of the United Kingdom’s five most recent Prime Ministers graduated from the University of Oxford. And quite a few British voters could tell you with what class of degree. It would be unthinkable to write Wikipedia page or biography without including such a basic fact, up there with school attended. For public figures, past and…
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![[China Series #1] The Communist Party of China and the Idea of `Evil’](https://oxfordpoliticalreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/kerry-brown.jpg)
[China Series #1] The Communist Party of China and the Idea of `Evil’
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The Oxford Political Review is conducting a series of contributions from field experts and academics studying China. We are looking to platform a diversity of voices and opinions. This piece is written by Prof. Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute. Over the last quarter of a century or…
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A Western Delusion: Narratives Surrounding Neocolonialism in Africa
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Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ in 2013 raised disapproving (or perhaps jealous?) eyebrows in the west, an insidious trend has emerged in relation to reporting on China within western media circles. Scaremongering articles, complete with ominous headlines such as ‘What China is really up to in Africa’, have rushed…
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Is expertise as contagious as COVID-19?
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By Jan Eijking In 2017 a book with a well-timed title landed on bookseller’s shelves across the UK: “The Death of Expertise.” Written by US Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, and published only shortly after Michael Gove’s now-infamous declaration that “Britain’s had enough of experts,” this little manifesto bemoaned a growing threat to expertise…
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Refugees in Camp Moria and COVID-19
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Around the world, COVID-19 has forced countries into a sudden reckoning with their most primary fragilities. It cannot be beaten by drone strikes or intimidated by economic prowess. The bold virus seems undaunted by the rhetoric of world leaders or the size of their armies. So as COVID-19 spreads, many comment on the apparently rare…
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The Case for Humility in Our COVID-19 Response
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As of mid-March 2020, the United Kingdom’s strategy for battling the COVID-19 pandemic is markedly different from that of virtually every other Western country. While the UK government’s more relaxed policy is provoking controversy among scientists and policymakers around the world, there is a subtle irony that we should not lose amidst the chaos –…
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How can armchair ethicists help fight pandemics?
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The popular prefix ‘armchair’ to ‘ethicists’ perhaps implies a false notion of ease with what ethicists do. Mathematicians work similarly to ethicists in many ways – an inquiry of truths by sitting in libraries with pen and paper. Yet few scold them for being ‘armchair mathematicians’.
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Oxford Political Review Interviews Noam Chomsky
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Editor-in-Chief Brian Wong interviews Noam Chomsky – linguist, political scientist, philosopher, writer, activist, and one of the most iconic American voices of the 20th Century.
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In Defense of Debate
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by Gabe Rusk and Numair Razzak This year’s Presidential primaries present us with such a heavily packed stage that candidates seem to primarily mine them for Tweetable moments in order to break from the pack. This problem will surely compound as it becomes harder and harder to qualify for the preceding debates. As the rhetoric…
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The Age of Impunity: A Review of David Miliband’s Fulbright Lecture
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In its most basic description, it is a thoroughly unremarkable photograph: heads of state shaking hands at the G20 Summit last autumn. But for those who have seen the striking image, a basic description could not do it justice. The man on the right wears the dark suit favored by intelligence operatives the world over,…