Time is running out for a new agricultural model for the global south
Jayati Ghosh is baffled that at a coming food summit the UN should partner with the World Economic Forum, not its own specialist agencies.
Society
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 societal issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Norway’s oil and money up for grabs in the coming election
Norway’s electorate has an existential choice to face about its Oil Fund, associated with domestic prosperity but looming climate catastrophe.
Rescuing the concept of precarity
The cause of the precariat isn’t helped by fuzzy thinking about who and what it is.
Not seeing the wood for the trees—the EU’s environmental blunder
Supporting a conversion to wood burning has unwittingly incentivised power plants to increase greenhouse gases.
National egoism versus planetary responsibility
Tackling the climate crisis is fundamentally incompatible with our understanding of sovereignty.
Climate change: labour’s neglected role
The Paris Agreement’s goals can not be fulfilled if neoliberalism prevails—which means only labour’s participation can bring success.
Maximising the potential of the European Green Deal
The European Green Deal doesn’t deserve uncritical support—but nor does it need sniping from the sidelines.
Amazon no longer absorbs carbon—has the world reached the point of no return?
The news that the Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink puts a further big question-mark against the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
A chance for a social future
Can the Conference on the Future of Europe be a turning point from a mere economic union to one of social rights?
The power of civil society in a post-pandemic world
A vibrant civil society is essential to the foundations of democracy—a lesson especially important when those seem under siege.
Is Europe socially fit for the ‘Fit for 55’ package?
The centrality of market mechanisms to the European Commission’s climate package poses big questions as to its effectiveness and distributional impact.
How to prevent a mental-health pandemic
The huge toll of Covid-19 on mental health highlights the need for public investment to tackle the vast reservoir of distress.
Lessons learnt from the pandemic for long-term care
After privatisation and austerity, long-term care needs to be restored to resilience and readiness for an ageing population.
Pushed over the cliff-edge
Kate Pickett argues the pandemic has not only massively affected public health but compounded the unhealthy effects of years of job insecurity.
International Public Service Day—a day of celebration, action and resistance
Strong public administrations and well-funded public services are needed to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic.
Public services and the common good
In these authoritarian times, defending and re-empowering public services is also defending democracy.
Child Guarantee—for most, but not all
The adoption of the European Child Guarantee is a big step forward. It will take another, however, to end institutional care.