From shock therapy to Putin’s war
Putin is alone responsible for the war in Ukraine but prominent westerners played a key role in Russia's post-Soviet trajectory.
Politics
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on political issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Labour’s opportunity: a multi-party government
If the Conservatives are to be defeated at the next Westminster election, Labour must back a coalition alternative.
Democracy and security in the EU’s neighbourhood
Nicoletta Pirozzi opens a Social Europe column by sketching the political vision the EU must hold out to its neighbours such as Ukraine.
Ukraine’s refugees: hospitality required
It’s time for the rest of Europe to show solidarity with Ukrainians through temporary protection of refugees.
Solidarity in time of war
The Russian invasion of Ukraine demands a multi-pronged, enduring European response sending a very clear signal to the Kremlin.
Ordinary Russians don’t want this war
The Russian president has launched his invasion of Ukraine but the attack could severely destabilise his regime.
The Ukraine crisis: how to respond?
The narrative of universal human rights did for the Soviet Union. It’s the biggest threat to its successor, muscle-flexing in Ukraine.
Will Europe deliver on corporate responsibility?
The EU must enforce mandatory due diligence on corporations and their supply chains and involve workers in its strategy.
Why we need a European supply-chain act
Human-rights due diligence must be taken seriously—as the Brumadinho case showed.
Apprehend, detain, deport—towards a securitised EU?
Pushbacks at Europe’s borders have not been compliant with the Refugee Convention. Nor would internal ones.
Boris Johnson’s last affair?
His cardinal sin is to have forgotten the core tenet of the rule of law: those who make the rules are bound by them.
Beyond dystopia
To change the pessimistic Zeitgeist, left-wing politics and radical art must renew their alliance, Robert Misik writes.
Let them eat respect?
The idea that social-democratic parties should accommodate anti-immigrant sentiment is not only misguided but empirically wrong.
Europe and the future of US democracy
Europe needs to address the risk come 2024 of facing not only a non-democratic superpower to its east—but to its west too.
Corporate due diligence—it’s in short supply
The EU must enforce robust human-rights due diligence in company supply chains.
Boris Johnson: a political career in freefall
The Conservative Party used to be famed for its pragmatic retention of power, Paul Mason writes. It’s lost that muscle memory.
Capital flight—stopping the looting of Africa
As with the coronavirus, the global north needs to recognise its interdependence with Africa when it comes to financial flows.