Articles by Mike Davis
-
Marx's Lost Theory
NLR 93, May-June 2015, pp. 45-66in
Subjects: Nationalism , Social Theory
In a landmark re-reading of Class Struggles in France and The Eighteenth Brumaire, Mike Davis draws out the theoretical propositions on class and nation, world-market and inter-state rivalry, that underpin the seminal political writings. Repudiation of politics as discourse pur, and revaluation of Marx’s ‘middle-level concepts’ for the mediated expression of complex social interests.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish -
The Last White Election?
NLR 79, January-February 2013, pp. 5-52in
Subjects: Political Theory and Strategy , United States
Panoramic survey of America’s political landscape as revealed by November’s vote, with age, gender, ethnicity and geography the volatile determinants of Obama’s victory. Within an increasingly polarized ideological force field, how will the coming struggles unfold between Democratic President and Senate and a Republican House, itself consumed by turmoil?
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish and Swedish -
Spring Confronts Winter
NLR 72, November-December 2011, pp. 5-15in
Subjects: World Economy and Globalization , Movements
Echoes of past rebellions in 2011’s global upsurge of protest. Against a backdrop of world economic slump, what forces will shape the outcome of contests between a raddled system and its emergent challengers?
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish and Danish -
Who Will Build the Ark?
NLR 61, January-February 2010, pp. 29-46in
Subjects: Environment , Cities
Copenhagen’s charades dispel any illusion that world rulers intend to deal with the environmental damage industrialization has caused. Mike Davis argues that green urbanism’s twining of social equality and ecological sustainability could offer an alternative starting-point.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish -
Obama at Manassas
NLR 56, March-April 2009, pp. 5-40in
Subjects: Political Theory and Strategy , United States
Does Obama’s victory signal a political turning point comparable to 1980 or 1932? Mike Davis maps county-level changes, from below—minority-majority demographics, subprime suburbs, white-collar financial worries—catalysed by the 2008 campaign. From above, realignment of American capital behind the Silicon President.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish and Portuguese -
The Democrats After November
NLR 43, January-February 2007, pp. 5-31in
Subjects: Political Theory and Strategy , United States
With anti-war sentiment growing—if still passive—in the US, how will Democrats use their recapture of Congress? Mike Davis analyses likely outcomes on the questions—Iraq, corruption, economic insecurity—that confront a Party leadership hooked on corporate dollars, and myopically gazing towards 2008.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish, Turkish and Italian -
Fear and Money in Dubai
NLR 41, September-October 2006, pp. 47-68in
Subjects: Arab World , World Economy and Globalization , Cities
On the rim of the war zone, a new Mecca of conspicuous consumption and economic crime, under the iron rule of Sheikh al-Maktoum. Skyscrapers half a mile high, artificial archipelagoes, fantasy theme parks—and the indentured Asian labour force that sustains them.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish, Arabic and Dutch -
Planet of Slums
NLR 26, March-April 2004, pp. 5-34in
Subjects: Anthropology , Social Theory
Future history of the Third World’s post-industrial megacities. A billion-strong global proletariat ejected from the formal economy, with Islam and Pentecostalism as songs of the dispossessed.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish, German, Portuguese and Greek -
The Flames of New York
NLR 12, November-December 2001, pp. 34-50in
Subjects: United States
Premonitions and hallucinations of the fate of the Twin Towers, from H. G. Wells to Ernst Bloch, John Dos Passos to Sayyid Qutb. Today’s Palmer raids and tomorrow’s ‘security cities’ as first instalments in the globalization of fear.
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish and Turkish -
Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big City
NLR I/234, March-April 1999, pp. 3-43in
Subjects: Aesthetics , Latin America and the Caribbean , Social Theory , United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish - Cosmic Dancers on History's Stage? The Permanent Revolution in the Earth Sciences in
-
The Dead West; Ecocide in Marlboro Country
NLR I/200, July-August 1993, pp. 49-73in
Subjects: Science , United States , Environment
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
Who Killed Los Angeles? Part Two: The Verdict is Given
NLR I/199, May-June 1993, pp. 29-54in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
Who Killed Los Angeles? A Political Autopsy
NLR I/197, January-February 1993, pp. 3-28in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
Los Angeles: Civil Liberties between the Hammer and the Rock
NLR I/170, July-August 1988, pp. 37-60in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
'Chinatown', Part Two? The 'Internationalization' of Downtown Los Angeles
NLR I/164, July-August 1987, pp. 65-86in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
The Lesser Evil? The Left and the Democratic Party
NLR I/155, January-February 1986, pp. 5-36in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
Urban Renaissance and the Spirit of Postmodernism
NLR I/151, May-June 1985, pp. 106-113in
Subjects: Aesthetics
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish -
Reaganomics' Magical Mystery Tour
NLR I/149, January-February 1985, pp. 45-65in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
The Political Economy of Late-Imperial America
NLR I/143, January-February 1984, pp. 6-38in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
The AFL-CIO's Second Century
NLR I/136, November-December 1982, pp. 43-54in
Subjects: United States , Labour Movements and Parties
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
The New Right's Road to Power
NLR I/128, July-August 1981, pp. 28-49in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
-
The Barren Marriage of American Labour and the Democratic Party
NLR I/124, November-December 1980, pp. 43-84in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish -
Why the US Working Class Is Different
NLR I/123, September-October 1980, pp. 3-44in
Subjects: United States
Read this article or download a PDF file
Also available in Spanish