In Sicily in the early 1990s a mass movement against the Mafia emerged after the assassination of two magistrates investigating them.
In the first column in this series we looked at how the Marxist Antonio Gramsci used the concept of hegemony to explain the continuing domination of capitalist ideas in Italy in the early 20th century.
According to the press and politicians Britain is awash with gangs of knife-carrying young people, who respect no law and will slash anyone who gets in their way.
A Labour government elected with great enthusiasm a few years earlier, holding down wages, cutting public services, tightening immigration controls and slavishly backing a US war.
In last week’s column I introduced the concept of hegemony, or domination, and how it was developed by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci.
Gordon Brown has ratcheted up his attacks on workers’ pay by demanding three-year below inflation pay deals in the public sector.
"We are going to keep inflation under control. The whole purpose of this is keeping inflation under control." That is how Gordon Brown justified his pay limits for public sector workers at a Downing Street press conference on Monday of last week.
"Pay restrictions tend to succeed in their first year. Holding them thereafter has all sorts of downsides. The longer you keep on, the more the dangers become."
During the 1990s the Irish Republic was the world’s fastest growing economy, creating the so-called "Celtic Tiger".
The battle to see who will be the next president of the US began last week with the Democrat and Republican parties holding caucuses in the state of Iowa to begin choosing their candidate. The 2008 election is going to be the most expensive election campaign in history.
Rioting began in Kenya after sitting president Mwai Kibaki was declared winner in presidential elections on 27 December. Opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the result, accusing the ruling party of ballot rigging.
The US sees Kenya as a strategic ally in the "war on terror" particularly as it borders countries including Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. The government has allowed military bases for both the US and Britain, as well as anchorage in Mombasa for naval vessels.
