Abbreviated title (ISO 4) New Left Rev. Language English Publication history 1960–present | Discipline Politics Edited by Susan Watkins Frequency Bimonthly | |
The New Left Review is a bimonthly political academic journal covering world politics, economy, and culture which was established in 1960. In 2003, the magazine ranked 12th by impact factor on a list of the top 20 political science journals in the world.
Contents
Background
As part of the British "New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on matters of Marxist theory. One of these was The Reasoner, a magazine established by historians E. P. Thompson and John Saville in July 1956. A total of three quarterly issues was produced. This publication was expanded and further developed from 1957 to 1959 as The New Reasoner, with an additional ten issues being produced.
Another radical journal of the period was Universities and Left Review, a publication established in 1957 with less of a sense of allegiance to the British communist tradition. This publication was more youth-oriented and pacifist in orientation, expressing opposition to the militaristic rhetoric of the Cold War, voicing strong opposition to the Suez War of 1956, and support for the emerging Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Establishment
New Left Review was established in January 1960 when The New Reasoner and Universities and Left Review merged their boards. The first editor-in-chief of the merged publication was Stuart Hall. The early publication's style, featuring illustrations on the cover and in the interior layout, was more irreverent and free-flowing than later issues of the publication, which tended to be of a more somber, academic bent. Hall was succeeded as editor in 1962 by Perry Anderson.
Current status
Since 2008, the magazine has followed the economic crisis as well as its global political repercussions. An essay by Wolfgang Streeck (issue 71) was called "the most powerful description of what has gone wrong in western societies" by the Financial Times's contributor Christopher Caldwell.
Its contributors include Terry Eagleton, Vivek Chibber, Tariq Ali and others.
Abstracting and indexing
According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2015 impact factor was 1.222, ranking it 52nd out of 163 journals in the category "Political Science".