Skip to content

Social Europe

  • eBooks
  • Newsletter
  • Membership
  • Advertisements

Eszter Kováts

Eszter Kováts (eszter.kovats@univie.ac.at) is Marie Skodłowska-Curie postdoctoral research fellow in the Institute of Political Science at the University of Vienna and a research affiliate of the Central European University. She was formerly responsible for the East-Central-European gender programme of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Budapest.

What Austria’s election teaches us about the far right’s rise and migration fears

Eszter Kováts

Austria’s election results highlight key lessons on the far right’s enduring appeal.

Ostrich politics and its alternatives

Eszter Kováts

In lieu of comforting, self-righteous myths, Eszter Kováts argues, progressives should take the 'anti-woke' challenge seriously.

Hungary’s unedifying political wordplays

Eszter Kováts

The opposition, Eszter Kováts writes, should not succumb to Orbán’s friend versus foe politics in the European elections.

Identity politics: in defence of ‘old white men’

Eszter Kováts

Arguments over who has a right to speak, Eszter Kováts writes, should give way to discussing what they say.

‘Trigger points’ and the polarisation entrepreneurs

Eszter Kováts

Progressives, Eszter Kováts writes, need to avoid the trap of a politics which only knows friends and foes.

Seeing through Orbán’s anti-‘woke’ smokescreen

Eszter Kováts

Western liberals, Eszter Kováts writes, should avoid being seduced by Hungary’s authoritarian mouthpieces.

Delegitimising social critique and dissent on the left

Eszter Kováts

Eszter Kováts writes that censoriousness is not the way to deal with legitimate concerns about social-justice claims.

When radical zealotry meets the polarising populists

Eszter Kováts

Some activist-scholars, Eszter Kováts writes, have turned social justice into a latter-day religion, with perverse effects.

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE PAPER
ETUI Advertisement

Growth and employment monitor

Based on recent research – notably from the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), this Special Brief outlines key evidence on the economic, employment and social situation in the EU and actions needed to reinforce the EU by ensuring “Investment for a vibrant European economy and quality jobs”

READ HERE
Eurofound Advertisement

Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE
FEPS Advertisement

Read the book "The Great Unravelling"

The book "The Great Unravelling", edited by Patrick Diamond and Ania Skrzypek, delves into the impact of growing economic interdependence, free trade and technological change, which has led to new forms of political polarisation that seek to capitalise on and exploit the resentments fuelled by the rise of globalisation.
Featuring a stellar line-up of policymakers, experts and academics, the book assesses whether a viable compromise between globalisation and social progress remains achievable.

READ HERE
Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

Our Mission

People

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Copyright Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH 2026
  • eBooks
  • Newsletter
  • Membership
  • Advertisements