Social democracy versus the nativist right
If progressives are to defeat the populists, Jan Zielonka writes, they must offer a vision beyond the nation-state.
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.
Ukraine: journalists in Russia’s sights
Reports suggest that Russia has been deliberately targeting journalists in Ukraine—which is a war crime.
EU enlargement—back to the future
How the European Union failed to deal with the collapse of Yugoslavia has lessons for the imperative of enlargement today.
Ursula von der Leyen—the accidental president
The State of the European Union address reflected a union buffeted by a series of crises.
Exchanging glances: Serbia seduces illiberal America
The government of Aleksandar Vučić is trying to clean up its image, Lily Lynch writes—without having to clean up its act.
Russia is winning the information war
In Europe the struggle by Ukraine has largely been seen as a defence of universal norms. But around the world that is far from universal.
Lachin corridor needs more than EU tunnel vision
If Europe does not wake up to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, it could be complicit in genocide.
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?
Facing Europe’s huge challenges
The outlines of a new progressive narrative for Europe are emerging amid the smoke from forest fires and the war in Ukraine.
Europe facing three threats to its future
The EU has to navigate disturbing internal dynamics, external challenges and a weak economic outlook.
Refugees: ‘how could we possibly get here?’
The European Union is crossing human-rights red lines with its Common European Asylum System.
How populists stay popular, from Ankara to Budapest
Once installed in power, authoritarian leaders such as Erdoğan and Orbán are very hard to dislodge.
Election in Spain: Faustian pact with far right looms?
Parliamentary elections this weekend in Spain could see the far-right party win a share of power.
The Supreme Court kicks away the ladder
The US Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action in university admissions has struck at the heart of the ‘American dream’.
Moving—bottom-up—beyond the crisis in Kosovo
Civil-society-led dialogue will be key if disinformation is to be rebutted and trust is to be rebuilt.
Orbán, ethnonationalism and xenophobia
Rejection of the EU’s latest plan for a co-ordinated approach to people movement stems from Orbán’s redefinition of Hungary.
Seeing through Orbán’s anti-‘woke’ smokescreen
Western liberals, Eszter Kováts writes, should avoid being seduced by Hungary’s authoritarian mouthpieces.