Resilience in the corona crisis—strongest where workers enjoy collective power
It may not have been thought of as an antidote to the coronavirus but collective bargaining is protecting workers’ health and security against its ravages.
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.
‘Corona bonds’ and Europe’s north-south divide
The Eurogroup’s decision to reject corona bonds will leave destabilising political scars.
Designing AI tools to benefit workers
Continuing our series on artificial intelligence, AI can augment human work—if workers’ representatives have a voice in implementing it.
Capitalism’s mirror stage: artificial intelligence and the quantified worker
As AI enters the workplace, we need to reflect upon the criteria by which human work is evaluated and human subjectivity depicted.
How his ‘Brexit’ project explains Johnson’s dithering on Covid-19
Paul Mason explains how Boris Johnson’s idiosyncratic initial response to the coronavirus stemmed from his particularistic empire nostalgia.
The future of Europe is being decided now
Given the ravages of the coronavirus crisis, the future of Europe cannot be one of permanent division between its northern and southern states.
Save European citizens, and save the union
In the face of the momentous internal and external threats facing European citizens, a merely intergovernmental European Union will fail to match them.
What Europe can learn from living-wage campaigns
The UK’s Living Wage Campaign is a successful experiment in broad-based social advocacy.
The coronavirus and the ‘quarantining’ of Hungarian democracy
Many aspects of normal life have been suspended in Hungary due to the coronavirus, including parliamentary democracy.
The future of work in the post-Covid-19 digital era
The coronavirus crisis has spurred the growth of online work. The genie is not going back in the bottle and we must plan for a future of ‘decent digiwork’.
Democracy, authoritarianism and crises
The coronavirus crisis may be a natural disaster but, Sheri Berman writes, how governments are responding is a product of their politics.
Europe’s failure to address Covid-19 shows the need for a European ‘health citizenship’
A Europe-wide public-health authority should be a priority to counteract collective-action problems among EU member states.
Has the coronavirus brought back the nation-state?
The coronavirus crisis has remade the case for public authority—but that can only work in a complex network of multi-level governance.
Social protection pays off
Governments must use the momentum created by the COVID-19 pandemic to make rapid progress toward collectively financed, comprehensive social-protection systems.
The EU responds to the coronavirus: déjà vu all over again?
The European Union must manifest real solidarity in response to the coronavirus crisis. Muddling through will not do.
Europe’s refugee policy: walking headlong into disaster
The EU failed to learn from the crisis of 2015—and is now paying the price. Its refugee policy is even worse than back then.
The corona crisis will define our era
Karin Pettersson writes that the pandemic has highlighted the frailties of a short-sighted and hyper-individualistic social system.