Category Archives: Publications

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Italian Spring: The Berlusconi Era May Be Nearing its End

The Berlusconi era may be nearing its end, but media populism remains a danger across Europe and requires new political forms of organisation to combat it Across Europe, as a result of the political establishment’s multiple failures in tackling the … Continue reading

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From Carlo Giuliani to Obama Bin Laden: the Importance of the Gaze

If you were a semiotician you would say that images and words use different systems of meaning, that images can say things that words cannot and vice versa. Semiotics is the study of signification and it’s a useful tool for … Continue reading

obama_speech_on_Osama © 2011 Marco Scalvini. All rights reserved.

Bin Laden’s Death May Have Been Justified—But was Justice Served?

At approximately 11:35 p.m. on May 1, speaking from the East Room of the White House, President Obama announced “to the American people and the world” that “justice has been done,” that he had personally “authorized an operation to get … Continue reading

clandestini-di-Vito-Manzari3 © 2011 Marco Scalvini. All rights reserved.

Humanitarian Wars and Rejected Refugees

Much of the public debate in Europe about the war in Libya focuses on the persistent issue of western double-standards concerning humanitarian intervention. This debate revolves around three main criticisms of the ‘coalition of willing’: hypocritical changing attitudes towards Libya; … Continue reading

Pills © 2010 Marco Scalvini. All rights reserved.

Glamorizing Sick Bodies

how commercial advertising has changed the representation of HIV/AIDS As a consequence of pharmaceutical advancements, HIV is no longer described in terms of the absence of health or presence of illness, and advertisements promoting anti-AIDS medications commercialize idealized and desirable … Continue reading