The Vulnerability of Trump’s Personality Cult
Trump's personality cult follows a well-worn historical playbook — but his pathological narcissism ensures he cannot deploy it effectively.
Social Rights: The Idea Whose Time Has Come?
A remarkable consensus on social rights is emerging as Europe's answer to inequality, democratic backsliding and geopolitical upheaval.
Proportional Representation Is Breaking Dutch Democracy
As coalition formation grows ever more tortuous, the Netherlands must confront whether proportional representation itself is the problem.
Europe’s Duty-Free Access Bankrolls Myanmar’s Military Repression
Five years after the coup, foreign brands and the EU's trade preferences continue to generate hard currency for a military regime waging war on its own people.
Armed Conflict or Mutual Survival?
Militarism and ecological collapse are not separate emergencies — they are the same emergency, feeding each other in a spiral humanity cannot afford to ignore.
Washington’s Russia U-Turn Exposes the Real Logic of Sanctions
The easing of Russian oil restrictions amid the Iran crisis reveals sanctions as tools of power, not justice.
Jürgen Habermas Shaped the Postwar Order — His Death Must Not Mark Its End
The greatest democratic theorist of the postwar era leaves behind a world dismantling everything he defended.
Let’s Admit It. Americans Are Not Like Us
The Atlantic alliance is over. The best to hope for is an entente recognising Europe and the US still have shared interests.
Beyond Affordability: Why an Economy Built Only for Consumers Fails Everyone
Progressive politics has rediscovered affordability, but an economic agenda that ignores the dignity and quality of work is only half a strategy.
Liberal Democracy Depends on Social Rights
Democratic backsliding and rising social insecurity have gone hand in hand.
Iran May Become the Next Failed State — and Europe Will Pay the Price
The US-Israeli assault on Iran was launched mid-negotiation, without UN backing, making it more dangerous to international law than Iraq.
Extreme Inequality Created the World Jeffrey Epstein Exploited
The Epstein revelations are symptoms of a deeper crisis: a political economy that rewards extraction over creation and concentrates power in ever fewer hands.
Europe’s Centre-Left Chose Caution Over Conviction and Now Faces Collapse
Bold choices, not better messaging, are the only way to save Europe's centre-left from electoral extinction.
International Law’s Crisis of Faith: Double Standards from North to South
From Venezuela to Gaza, the selective application of international law by powerful states and their critics alike is draining the post-1945 order of its last reserves of legitimacy.
Spain and Norway Expose the Bankruptcy of Europe’s Iran Response
Europe's response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a continent locked in dependency and struggling to find its voice.
Pensions, Housing, Jobs: One Fund to Fix Them All
A compulsory second-tier pension fund invested exclusively in social housing would tame rents, boost employment, and deliver stable retirement income.
Populism’s Real Target in Europe Is Not the Elite — It Is the Worker
Populist leaders promise to empower “the people” but systematically sideline the institutions through which workers actually exercise power.