A harsh, right-wing authoritarianism is rising, casting a shadow of unfreedom as classic conservatism fades.
Austria’s Radical Lurch: Kickl’s Power Grab Looms
A radical leader edges towards transforming Austria’s democracy, sparking widespread concern.
Progressives Under Pressure: Confronting the Gradual Rise of Authoritarianism
Progressives face the urgent challenge of defending democracy without reinforcing the very divisions that fuel its decline.
Far-Right surge in Austria: Is Europe headed for an authoritarian wave?
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has surged to dominance in national elections, with major implications for democracy and political stability.
The ascendant far right: the lust for cruelty
After the elections in eastern-German Länder and ahead of those in Austria, Robert Misik casts an unsentimental eye on far-right voters.
European elections: ghosts of the past
The elections might see not only gains for the right-wing populists but also, Robert Misik warns, a relapse into austerity.
The case for a radical, liberal left
We should counter the radical right, Robert Misik writes, not with left-wing populism but the power of reason.
Israel, Hamas and the Gaza war: delusion and reality
Robert Misik steers a path between Germans hunting ‘anti-Semites’ everywhere and being seen as accomplices to an ‘Israeli genocide’.
Israel and Hamas: the debasement of discourse
Amid escalating deaths, claims and counter-claims, Robert Misik clears the smoke of self-righteous dissembling.
Olaf Scholz, the improbable role model
A state that protects—and a bulwark for democracy and modernity. Is this, Robert Misik asks, the new paradigm of the democratic left?
SPÖ: how not to run a leadership contest
The messy struggle for leadership of Austria’s social democrats, Robert Misik writes, nevertheless has echoes for others.
The good man from Traiskirchen
The Austrian social democrats are heading into a leadership contest, Robert Misik writes. For the SPÖ it could get bumpy.
The left and freedom
Democratic socialists must take back the concept of freedom from the libertarians, Robert Misik writes.
Today’s far right and the echoes from history
Robert Misik argues today’s extreme right is sponsoring a brutalisation comparable to historical fascism.
Reasonable left, irresponsible right
Amid burgeoning crises, Robert Misik writes, the left finds itself assuming the mantle of responsibility.
A social-democratic decade ahead?
Now Austria’s SPÖ too has left its competitors far behind, Robert Misik asks: is the Zeitgeist moving to the left?
A new era of containment?
The security architecture of the past 50 years is in ruins. Robert Misik maps a policy for the new cold war.
Beyond dystopia
To change the pessimistic Zeitgeist, left-wing politics and radical art must renew their alliance, Robert Misik writes.
The revolt against reason
Many have lost all trust in politics, Robert Misik writes. The protests against vaccination and anti-virus rules however turn this into madness.
The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win
In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.
Austrian Democrats Must Unite To Stop The Far Right
The resistible rise of the Far Right in Austria. The presidential election is on a knife-edge before the deciding round of at the end of May. It did indeed come as a shock that moment when the blue bar on the TV screen last Sunday at 5 pm shot upwards: 35 per cent of the […]