Radical Review
Radical Review is an annual publication aimed at normalizing and encouraging radical thinking and radical change in social and political spheres. Contributors interrogate a given theme with each edition, presenting a range of different proposals in order to demonstrate the context-sensitivity of the 'radical' designation and show that far from being extreme and implausible, radical ideas are necessary and achievable.
This year, the focus of Radical Review is governance in a COVID-regulated world. The unprecedented circumstances created by the recent pandemic, and the extensive, unparalleled pressure that it applied on a global scale, brought to light a number of shortcomings and challenges in our current governance systems. In light of this, contributors from varied cultural, academic and professional backgrounds have been asked to draw on their knowledge and experiences to propose radical thinking and solutions to such challenges.
Contents
Editor's Note - Danny Lord
Lord introduces the theme and comments on the development of this edition.
Preface - Dr Saghar Birjandian
Birjandian contextualises the overall project of the Radical Review, explaining the necessity of radical thought and action in bridging the gap between academia and practise.
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Introduction - Dr Saghar Birjandian, Yasmin Jones & Nousha Nematzadeh
The authors unpack the concept 'radical', giving theoretical and historical context to the subsequent essays' attempts to reclaim it.
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No Justice, No Peace: Abolish the Police - Dr Marisa Tramontano
Tramontano explains the ways that COVID accelerated the movement to defund and abolish the police.
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It’s Radical Being Green - Emily Sample
Sample discusses the ways COVID made us rethink how we use public space, and who gets privileged access to it. She advocates for investment in community gardens as a way to strengthen intracommunity relations and improve environmental education.
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Understanding Agents as Administrations of Justice: Improving Governance Strategies in a COVID-regulated World - Dr Saghar Birjandian
Birjandian argues that there is analytical value in understanding individual human beings in the masses as “administrations of justice” because such thinking can help to more accurately chart the types of social change required to establish just societies.
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Human Security in Crisis: Analyzing the Role of International Institutions in a COVID-Regulated World - Yatana Yamahata
Yamahata shows us how looking at the role of international institutions during the AIDS and COVID pandemics reveals ways in which populations have the power to influence states, moving away from traditional theories of international relations.
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Reclaiming Utopia, Contesting Hegemony: A Conversation - Dr Luísa Calvete Portela Barbosa
Calvete documents a conversation between university students and lecturers based in Brazil, who identify the need to overcome a hegemonic individualism as fundamental barrier to significant progress.
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Family and Clan as Pressure Systems of Accountability: Responding to Brutality against Civilians During Uganda’s COVID-19 Response - Henry Okidi Okoth
Okoth suggests that we cannot understand the response to COVID in Uganda without recognizing the legacy of authoritarian rule and military violence and considers the family and the clan as a possible pressure point to address brutality.
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Alternative Justice for Victims in Uganda: Learning from the Impact of COVID-19 on the Court System - Tonny Raymond Kirabira
Kirabira proposes that the disruptions of COVID allow for the reimagining of justice and how court systems operate to ensure the focus is on healing and/or justice for the victim and not the punishment of the perpetrator.
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Following South Korea: Collectivism versus Individualism in COVID-19 Response - Monica Macias
Macias dissects the individualist worldview prevalent in western countries like the United Kingdom in comparison to more collectivist countries like South Korea in the context of each country’s response to the COVID pandemic, concluding that collectivism fosters more effective response to crisis
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Visualizing a More Perfect Union: Social Science and the Visual Arts Building Just Futures Together - Shelly Clay-Robison
Clay-Robinson explores how governments, especially during a public health crisis like COVID, could combine the research expertise of the social sciences and the communicative power of the arts to create partnerships with communities experiencing social and economic issues.
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Conclusion: What now? - Danny Lord & Dr Marisa Tramontano
The authors summarise the arguments in the preceding essays, and unpack the lessons to be learnt from both their diversity and discernible common threads.