Topical: Electoral upsets, Mueller reports, net neutrality, hard Brexit?

Electoral upsets in Ukraine, Slovakia and Turkey; Mueller reports but speculations persist; art. 13 angers net activists; and hard Brexit looks increasingly possible. Below, background reading on some of the big debates of the past two weeks, from Eurozine’s archive:

Ukraine: Throughout its recent political upheavals, Ukraine has looked to Europe as a beacon of liberal democracy. Europe’s unwillingness to reciprocate has held back development not only in Ukraine, writes Andrii Portnov. (January 2018)

Slovakia: Putting Jan Kusiak’s murderers behind bars will be scant consolation if Slovakia does not have the kind of politicians whose actions are not driven by their egos but are determined by the rule of law, comments Samuel Abrahám. (March 2018)

Turkey: Processes of Islamisation in Ankara and Istanbul show how the political struggle in Turkey is about the imposition of a ‘legitimate’ cultural vision. Nilgün Tutal discusses the AKP and cultural power. (October 2017)

Mueller report: Accusations of Russian interference have become the primary route through which to undermine Donald Trump. The politicized nature of the debate suggests that the Russia story was about more than Russia, argues Andrei Tsygankov. (December 2018)

Art 13: Internet platforms welcome the ‘normalization’ of interference with access to content, since it creates a world where they decide who the winners and losers are in the online marketplace, warns Joe McNamee. (December 2014)

Brexit: Understanding Brexit means understanding the history of English exceptionalism. With a hard Brexit looming, asks Maurice Earls, will the benefits of team-play prevail over the allure of splendid isolation? (November 2017)