Biden’s trap
Joe Biden’s administration must deliver on sweeping new federal programmes while placating moderates who oppose radical policy measures.
Politics
Analysis and debate on European and national politics, democracy, the rule of law, parties and elections, and Europe’s place in the world.
Can Xi Jinping defeat three stubborn modern inequalities?
Branko Milanovic argues that ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is replicating United States inequalities.
Brexit: why does Northern Ireland matter so much?
So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else.
The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win
In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.
The new way of doing politics in times of elections
As Czechs go to the polls, a new politics is emerging across Europe, variously populist and technocratic.
Hungary’s path puts everyone’s rights in danger
The ostensible assault on LGBT+ rights in Hungary, Poland and Russia has a very big target—anyone who signs up to universal norms.
Intellectual monopoly capitalism—challenge of our times
Cédric Durand and Cecilia Rikap
Unregulated capitalism has always tended to monopoly. But Big Tech represents a challenge antitrust tools can’t tame.
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.
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.
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.