Originally published in 1990, Jean Said Makdisi’s Beirut Fragments asks a question that remains painfully relevant: what happens when political violence becomes part of ordinary life?

At a moment when dissent is reduced to a law-and-order problem, it is worth looking at what makes people willing to protest. India’s history shows movements are born when private emotions become collective political demands.

The UN has become a bloated bureaucracy undermined by big powers and incapable of stopping urgent crises of war and climate change. With initiatives like UN80 only scratching the surface, the next Secretary-General must prepare for serious reform.