Unnecessary tradeoffs
Progressive ideas can prevail in a democracy, Sheri Berman writes—but only if they are pitched in universal terms.
Politics
Analysis and debate on European and national politics, democracy, the rule of law, parties and elections, and Europe’s place in the world.
Russia: it’s raining men without umbrellas
What is Russia up to, at the Ukraine border and beyond? It takes a gender lens to see.
The virus antidote: political leadership, progressive government, public services
With still fewer than 50 fatalities, there is much to learn from how New Zealand’s Labour government has handled the pandemic.
A tale of loss and hope: what can we learn from Poland?
Poland’s ruling nationalists aren’t having it all their own way. The opposition needs more external recognition.
Towards transparency by design in the EU
Citizens must have access to information to engage with the democratic life of the union, the European ombudsman argues.
Transforming German society
More than profound changes to German citizenship laws will be needed to render a diverse society harmonious.
The Summit for Democracy—a wrong idea (for the world)
Branko Milanovic contends that last week’s US-convened Summit for Democracy could only exacerbate geopolitical divides.
Tax justice—a crucial tool to advance human rights
On Human Rights Day, the world looks a lot different through a lens of social and economic rights.
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.
Andersson’s agenda
Magdalena Andersson has been elected the first female prime minister of Sweden. Again.
Towards gender-parity democracy
It’s time to talk about a new social contract—one that women desperately need.
Putin, pugilism and pusillanimity
Paul Mason finds the democratic world in the very disarray the authoritarian in the Kremlin has sought.
Matteo Salvini’s League and the price of unbridled populism
Valerio Alfonso Bruno and Vittorio Emanuele Parsi
The strength of populism is its simple message that ‘the people’ are traduced by an ‘elite’ linked to ‘foreign’ interlopers. That’s also its weakness.
The lure of progressive authoritarianism
The left needs to rediscover the virtue of liberty.
Stopping democratic backsliding
Sheri Berman argues that democracy today faces a more insidious threat than coups d’état—slow strangulation by elected autocrats.
The G20, the private sector and the vaccine, debt and climate crises
Katie Gallogly-Swan and Rebecca Ray
G20 leaders meeting in Rome must recognise that only public purpose, not private profit, can tackle interconnected global crises.