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Taking the Battle for Human Attention Seriously

Jacques Attali

The battle for human attention has become the defining geopolitical and democratic contest of the digital age.

Protesters on motorcycles and horses in a dynamic, artistic style.

Abandoning International Law Means Choosing the Road to Great Barbarism

Frank Hoffer

The normalisation of war demands not the burial of international law, but its urgent reinvention — and Europe must lead the charge.

Woman at desk contemplating, surrounded by chaotic office environment.

The Male Norm in Occupational Health Costs Women Their Wellbeing

Dimitra Theodori

Workplace health and safety policies built around a male default leave millions of women exposed to risks that better regulation could prevent.

A person standing on a scale with a tablet, symbolising justice and human rights in Europe.

Social Rights: The View from the Council of Europe

Alain Berset and Robin Wilson

During the High-level Conference on Social Rights this month in Chișinău, Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, gave an exclusive interview to Social Europe.

Illustration of a tree with European stars and people walking around it.

Growth Without Resilience: Europe’s Hidden Social Fracture

Eszter Sandor

A recent EU survey exposes the chasm between headline economic data and the financial reality confronting households across Europe.

Stylised portrait of Donald Trump with thoughtful expression.

The Vulnerability of Trump’s Personality Cult

Jan-Werner Müller

Trump's personality cult follows a well-worn historical playbook — but his pathological narcissism ensures he cannot deploy it effectively.

People walking with briefcases near a large scale symbolising justice.

Social Rights: The Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Robin Wilson

A remarkable consensus on social rights is emerging as Europe's answer to inequality, democratic backsliding and geopolitical upheaval.

People protesting with Dutch flags in front of historic building.

Proportional Representation Is Breaking Dutch Democracy

Tarunabh Khaitan and Mike Winterwerp

As coalition formation grows ever more tortuous, the Netherlands must confront whether proportional representation itself is the problem.

Soldier sitting with rifle against red background and Myanmar temples.

Europe’s Duty-Free Access Bankrolls Myanmar’s Military Repression

Khaing Zar Aung and Atle Høie

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.

Soldiers in a lush landscape with vibrant butterflies and a swirling sky.

Armed Conflict or Mutual Survival?

Richard Wilkinson, Roberto De Vogli and Kate Pickett

Militarism and ecological collapse are not separate emergencies — they are the same emergency, feeding each other in a spiral humanity cannot afford to ignore.

Vivid, abstract portrait of a man with a cityscape in the background.

Washington’s Russia U-Turn Exposes the Real Logic of Sanctions

Ilan Kapoor

The easing of Russian oil restrictions amid the Iran crisis reveals sanctions as tools of power, not justice.

Stylized digital portrait of Jürgen Habermas with glasses and white hair.

Jürgen Habermas Shaped the Postwar Order — His Death Must Not Mark Its End

Peter Verovšek

The greatest democratic theorist of the postwar era leaves behind a world dismantling everything he defended.

A man in a suit stands between American and European flags, symbolising political differences.

Let’s Admit It. Americans Are Not Like Us

Philip Stephens

The Atlantic alliance is over. The best to hope for is an entente recognising Europe and the US still have shared interests.

Cityscape with construction, wind turbines, and pollution.

Beyond Affordability: Why an Economy Built Only for Consumers Fails Everyone

Dani Rodrik

Progressive politics has rediscovered affordability, but an economic agenda that ignores the dignity and quality of work is only half a strategy.

Classical statue of a woman reading, surrounded by abstract red and grey elements.

Liberal Democracy Depends on Social Rights

Aoife Nolan

Democratic backsliding and rising social insecurity have gone hand in hand.

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Progressive Thinking on the Big Issues of Our Time

Read by policymakers, academics and journalists in 100+ countries.

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D conference The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision, 9 September 2026, European Parliament, Brussels

S&D conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision”

The S&D Group is pleased to invite you to our conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision” on Wednesday, 9 September, from 14:30 to 18:30, in the European Parliament in Brussels as well as online, where we will discuss the geopolitical changes taking place in the Middle East.

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Cover of the ETUI and OSE book Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025.

New Edition - Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025

Can Europe preserve its distinctive social model while simultaneously rearming, reindustrialising, and reorganising its economy in a more conflictual and competitive world? This is the central question raised in this new edition of the Bilan social, a reference publication released every spring for more than 25 years by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE).

READ HERE

Eurofound Advertisement

EurofoundTalks podcast with Mary McCaughey and Eszter Sandor: Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE

FEPS Advertisement

Cover of The Progressive Post issue 31, Summer 2026: The Mediterranean, a crowded sea.

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out! 

The EU is belatedly awakening to a changing Mediterranean sea, where more assertive regional powers are reclaiming a role.

The new issue of the magazine also reflects on how we struggle to keep pace with AI innovations, examines the uncertainties surrounding the execution of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the risk to human rights posed by the Return Regulation, and focuses on the EU Commission's newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI blog series “Climate Transition: Socially Just and Fair”: How the climate crisis and global migration are linked, by Neva Löw and Maximilian Pichl

How the climate crisis and global migration are linked

The climate crisis and global migration are closely linked. Emancipatory forces must demand and defend the right to be able to leave, but not to have to leave. This means defending and expanding asylum rights.

READ HERE

FES Advertisement

Cover of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung analysis The Capability State: A Progressive Vision for the 21st Century by Henning Meyer.

“What is the actual purpose of the state?” – this central question is the focus of the analysis. At a time when bureaucratic processes are making life difficult for citizens, the paper proposes a three-part model. It aims at a conception of the state as a platform that helps society build the capabilities it needs to address its problems effectively.

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