Britain heads further down the Brexit rabbit-hole
Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button.
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.
Most of Europe fails to guarantee access to abortion care
A comprehensive atlas of abortion policies across Europe shows that women’s experience ‘largely depends on their postcode’.
How Olaf Scholz won Germany
In a few months, Scholz reversed the social democrats’ decade-long decline, running on a message of dignity and respect for all workers.
Gender, ministers and political appointments
Women fronting governments sends an important signal. Having them in the backrooms of power is however also crucial.
It’s about the sausage
Ahead of the Bundestag elections on Sunday, just how did Olaf Scholz become the top candidate to be chancellor?
Finding solid ground: gateways to municipal socialism
From interwar Vienna through 1980s London and beyond, municipalities are the crucible of compelling socialist initiatives.
Despite all the international attention, Afghan refugees are not welcome
Nobody really knows what prospects await Afghan refugees when countries have yet to see human rights as rights for all humans.
Catalonia: a fraught dialogue begins
The leaders of the Spanish government and that in Catalonia have met across the table—but the gap between them remains large.
How democracy can win again
Democratic erosion in Hungary is symptomatic of structural problems afflicting most democracies, even threatening the future of civilisation.
Young people and planetary justice
Ultimately, resolving the collective-action dilemma of preserving a liveable planet will require a UN ‘constitution of the Earth’.
On the EU’s Belarus border, security and fundamental rights collide
Weronika Grzebalska argues that Lukashenka’s thrashing around in eastern Europe forces progressives to offer a positive alternative on security.
All together now: facing the global challenges of our time
Recent headlines make it seem an inauspicious moment for a progressive transatlantic political alliance—yet this couldn’t be more urgent.
Left-wing austerity during international crises—it’s the financial markets, stupid!
Left governments adopted more conservative fiscal policies than right governments in recent crises. They have dire electoral consequences.
The consequences of neoliberal capitalism in eastern Europe
Sheri Berman argues that post-communist left embrace of economic as well as political liberalism allowed populists to target the latter.
Progressive mayors in central and eastern Europe challenge the status quo
Major cities in central and eastern Europe have elected liberal mayors. But socially conservative attitudes are unlikely to shift at national level.
Turkey and the Istanbul convention—fighting to keep it alive
The Turkish president no doubt thinks his decision to de-ratify the Istanbul convention is irreversible. The main opposition party disagrees.
Stefan Löfven—welding progressives together and keeping the far right at bay
The Swedish social-democrat leader, shortly to step down, didn’t buckle under pressure despite a slender parliamentary hold.