Checking the populist tide—for now
Can the Czech Republic keep bucking the populist trend in central Europe affecting Poland, Slovakia and Hungary?
Politics
Analysis and debate on European and national politics, democracy, the rule of law, parties and elections, and Europe’s place in the world.
Disaster in Greece: when politics goes off the rails
The government’s efforts to deflect responsibility for the train disaster have failed to contain public outrage.
Germany trapped in an unavoidable change
Germany has made significant strides to transcend ordoliberal nostra. But huge obstacles still stand in the way of progress.
A conjured-up polarisation endangers democracy
European societies are less polarised than in the United States—and than we are led to believe.
Consultants and the crisis of capitalism
Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington
Growing reliance on big consultancies is stunting state capacity and undermining democratic accountability.
When radical zealotry meets the polarising populists
Some activist-scholars, Eszter Kováts writes, have turned social justice into a latter-day religion, with perverse effects.
The only way to end the war
The EU must not only ensure that Ukraine can attain a just and lasting peace but support the embedding of universal norms.
The European Union at war
How can a civilian power such as the EU, Jan Zielonka asks, contend with uncivilised behaviour?
Asylum: the EU’s misplaced moral compass
The measures taken by the EU on asylum should be guided by a lawful and sincere humanitarianism.
‘You mean the prison?’: displaced people on Samos
The warehousing of asylum-seekers behind barbed wire encapsulates where ‘protecting borders’ leads.
Belarusian trade unionists take refuge in Germany
Exiled trade unionists continue their work, hoping to return to Belarus one day to rebuild their society.
The global AI race—it’s time to slow down
The world’s largest companies cannot be given free rein in their competition to capitalise artificial intelligence.
Can the west woo Africa?
The west’s lack of engagement with Africa in recent years left behind a vacuum China and Russia have eagerly filled.
Options for Europe’s ‘geopolitical’ future
Global challenges have left only one option off the table for the European Union—inertia.
Reviving democracy in a fragmented Europe
Susanne Wixforth and Kaoutar Haddouti
Addressing economic inequality is key to restoring political participation and democratic legitimacy.
Pension reform in Germany—a market solution?
Fabian Mushövel and Nicholas Barr
The proposal for an equity reserve will not solve the challenge of making pensions sustainable.