DEMOS

• Hearts and Minds Human security approaches to political violence

  Resolving intractable conflicts has become an even more urgent task since the September 11th attacks and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, strategies which simply try to hit back at the ‘enemy’, the ‘terrorists’ or political opponents using arms are counterproductive. They increase, rather than decrease, both the level of violence and the yawning chasm between the two sides. Gabrielle Rifkind Scilla Elworthy July 2005 | from Bringing it Home Local Listening Sessions Diverting Young People from Extremism

• Start with People How community organisations put citizens in the driving seat This report argues that people will not be satisfied by what the public realm has to offer until they themselves become more active in shaping it. To this end, while services are increasingly focused on the problems they must solve, community organizations start with people. They are able to create ‘communities of participation’ which bring the public realm to life, helping people to play a greater role within it. John Craig Paul Skidmore July 2005
• So Giotto Drew On Rocks... Childrens right to art and everyday democracy The central role of cultural and creative production in preparing our young people for the world in which they will grow up. Samuel Jones June 2005
• Include Me In How life skills help homeless people back into work Hannah Lownsbrough June 2005
• Everyday Democracy Why we get the politicians we deserve Our democracy is in crisis. Party membership is falling; electoral turnout in Britain appears to have bottomed out at a new low and, when asked, we say we distrust governments like never before. Tom Bentley June 2005 | from The Everyday Democracy Index
• Independent Living The Right To Be Equal Citizens Independent living is what non-disabled people take for granted – living the life you want to live; deciding what you want to do (and what you don’t), and then having the opportunity and, if necessary, the support, to get on and do it. Hannah Green Paul Miller May 2005
• Wide Open Open source methods and their future potential In defiance of the conventional wisdom of modern business, open source methods have led the main underlying innovations around the Internet. Geoff Mulgan Omar Salem April 2005
• Rebuilding the Public Realm Tackling the 'poverty of aspiration' through rebuilding the public realm Tessa Jowell April 2005
• Beyond digital divides? The future for ICT in rural areas This report traces the rise of broadband and explores the issues it raises today for rural areas.   It then goes on to explore three possible scenarios for rural broadband in 2020, with the twin aims of dramatising a variety of future directions and helping rural stakeholders to think creatively about the more immediate responses these futures may require. Briony Greenhill John Craig April 2005
• Manufacturing Dissent Single-issue protest, the public and the press Protest is migrating from the streets in to the newspapers. The conjunction of media power and popular protest is reshaping the terms of political engagement. But does this phenomenon offer a new channel of expressing opinions ignored by political elites – or does it threaten to short-circuit representative democracy? Kirsty Milne March 2005

Publications Updates