The sooner Europe gets used to a future without the nation-state, the better, writes Robert Menasse. Amnesia about what the unification project originally meant is causing a catastrophic lack of imagination about where it is heading.
In societies with colonial histories and that are traditionally open to the world, there is widespread tolerance of diversity at a fundamental level. So says Aleksander Smolar; who is afraid that, for Poland, the smallest step towards adaptation will be a dramatic struggle.
The system currently known as the European Union is the embodiment of post-democracy, says Ulrike Guérot. The solution: to turn Europe on its head. For the Europe of tomorrow is a European Republic, the embodiment of a transnational community.
In Europe all political thought is imperialist, says Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz. This means that politics as we know it today incorporates the experience of imperial politics from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, when the foundations of what we call “the political” were forged.
The works of Somalian-born activist and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali show that the civilizational jump is incompatible with clan ethics, writes Oksana Forostyna of Krytyka (Ukraine). And given that Somalia is already a synonym for “failed state”, time is of the essence in solving the Ukraine crisis.
Privacy and identity are two sides of the same coin, argues Luciano Floridi. And yet, paradoxically, western governments are now eroding privacy in the interests of their own self-preservation. However, collecting data first and asking questions later is not a policy, says Floridi; it’s an affront to one of the foundations of liberal democracy.
Silence the speaker; divide and rule the audience. If that seems extreme, attack not what is said but its potentially upsetting or offensive “tone”. Thomas Docherty reports on the insidious attempts of governments to inhibit academic freedom in the UK and internationally.
It is not only events in eastern Ukraine and the Greek crisis that will force the European Union to reinvent itself, argues Andriy Portnov, but also domestic political landscapes in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The sum of all of these factors will force change.
Would it be pure fantasy to suppose that the forging of closer ties between Moscow and Beijing really offers Russia an alternative to growing international isolation? No, says Andreas Umland. There is however plenty of ground for scepticism about the venture’s viability.
In the aftermath of World War II, Finland pursued a policy of remaining on good terms with the Soviet Union with a view to safeguarding Finnish sovereignty. This strategy became known as “Finlandization”. A strategy that now haunts Europe, writes Sofi Oksanen, as Russia continues to focus on expanding its sphere of influence.
By 1950, Poland’s postwar Stalinist regime was already near the height of its powers. Not that this stopped the emergence of a youth subculture during the ensuing decades. Tom Junes explains how associated movements evolved and even became useful to the Polish government.
Is there a chance for self-transformation, and above all, social transformation, in a crisis that is not suffered but co-created? Brian Holmes says there is. The key here is aesthetic experiences, where the breakdown of the dominant economic norm opens up a pathway toward some kind of autonomy.
George Orwell is often credited with elevating political writing to an art. However, writes Enda O’Doherty, it might be useful to separate out the terms “political” and “writing”. For while his writing is undoubtedly of the highest order, the quality of his political judgment remains questionable.
Today, knowledge, aesthetics and politics are produced and consumed in cultural shopping malls in as generic forms as possible, writes Swedish theatre director Anders Paulin. High time, therefore, to rethink and reclaim the institution as a necessary mediator between society and its citizens.
Siberian neo-regionalism has recently gained momentum, writes Stanislav Zakharkin; a development fuelled not least by widespread concern about the uneven distribution of revenues from the region’s oil and mineral resources. But is this diverse grassroots movement capable of effecting real change?
The situation for women in societies caught up in the post-’89 transition is complicated, writes Slavenka Drakulic. On the one hand, they now stand to lose rights that were, at least formally, established during the communist regime. On the other, women’s position in society has been undermined everywhere in Europe – in East and West alike. The financial crisis has struck hard, and women have been struck harder.