ONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

PAUL BROKS is a clinical neuropsychologist. His book Into the Silent Land (Atlantic Books) is forthcoming

ANDREW BROWN's book In the Beginning was the Worm will be published in February by Simon and Schuster

KATHLEEN BURK is a professor of history at University College London

EDWARD CHANCELLOR is an assistant editor for Breakingviews, the financial commentary service

DEREK COOMBS is chairman of Prospect

MARK COUSINS is director of the BBC’s Scene by Scene-, he is currently writing a book about the history of cinema

SAMANTHA ELLIS is a playwright and freelance journalist

CHARLES GRANT is director of the Centre for European Reform

HELON HABILA is a Nigerian author living in Britain, llis novel Waiting for an Angel won the ‘2001 Caine prize for African writing

IVAN HEWETT writes about music for the Daily Telegraph

MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ is the author of Atomised (Vintage) and Platform (Heinemann)

PHILIP HUNTER is a freelance science and technology writer

KATE KELLAWAY writes for the Observer

RICHARD LAPPER is Latin America editor of the Financial Times

MICHAEL LIND is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation

JOHN LLOYD is a contributing editor of Prospect

EDWARD LUCE is South Asia correspondent for the Financial Times

EDWARD MARRIOTT s new book. The Plague Race, is published by Picador

IAIN McLEAN is a professor of politics at Oxford University and a fellow of Nuffield College

ANSHUMAN A MONDAL is a lecturer in modern literature at Leicester University

ULRICH PFEIFFER is owner and manager of Empirica, a private consultancy firm

BELLA THOMAS is a documentary maker

ALEKSANDER SOLZHENITSYN is the author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and the Gulag Archipelago

IAN STEWART is a professor of mathematics at Warwick University

2 PROSPECTJanuary2003

contentsIssue eighty-two January 2003

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OPINIONS 10 Ratify or quit CHARLES GRANT The EU must take a hard line on small countries that fail to ratify treaties.

11 Ignoring Nigeria HELON HABILA President Obasanjo, not Miss World, was the real target of the riots.

12 Liberation theology IAIN McLEAN Disestablishment of the Church of England is a no-lose policy.

14 Slowmotion land ULRICH PFEIFFER Germany is a less federal country than most people think.

15 No incentive DEREK COOMBS Why so many peace initiatives in the middle east have failed.

C O V E R STORY 46 What the poor watch on TV BELLA THOMAS Is television an outpost of cultural imperialism? More than two billion people in poor countries now have access to a set. But, rather than envying the west, they are increasingly tuning in to local programmes

16 Lula’s Latin America RICHARD LAPPER If Lula delivers reform and financial stability, Brazil may become the social democratic model for Latin America.

ESSAYS

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28 Liberal Islam? ANSHUMAN A MONDAL Islam’s reformers of the 19th century failed to reconcile their faith with modernity. Is there any more hope today for the emergence of political liberalism in Islamic states?

34 Free trade fallacy MICHAEL LIND Rich countries did not follow free trade rules when they were developing. They now insist: do as we say, not as we did.

38 Why Italy matters JOHN LLOYD Silvio Berlusconi is no longer merely a threat to Italian democracy, but a warning to the rest of Europe.