The new wave of revolutionary politics, from the Arab Spring to the Turkish Summer, is an insurgence against representative democracy that offer no alternatives, writes Ivan Krastev in a new book. Is protest really a better instrument than elections for keeping elites accountable?
Confronted with gruesome images of the brutality of ISIS, many people conclude that this violence is inherent to the faith itself, to Islam. But is there really something about Islam that makes its followers more prone to violence and intolerance than others?
The informal politics of distribution on the streets, of begging and of giving, makes visible the faults inherent in European welfare systems, writes Cecilia Parsberg. And the rules and statutes that aim to prevent poverty-stricken EU citizens from enjoying free movement add insult to injury.
In a deceivingly simple prose poem, Lina Ekdahl captures the characteristic mix of genuine curiosity and interrogative hostility with which newcomers have been met throughout history and which is no less pertinent in the era of Dublin regulations.
In a narrative shaped by the persistence of gender and racial inequalities, Suzanne Sinke maps the interplay between migration and marriage from the origins of the United States onward, chronicling shifts in women’s rights along the way.
Treat economists like any religious minority, says Tomas Sedlacek. Grant them the right to say whatever they believe and the right to gather. But always be sceptical of the stories they tell. Just take the invisible hand of the market: it’s plain wishful thinking, like a prayer.
In an issue of the Austrian architecture magazine GAM entitled “Intuition & the machine”, guest editor Urs Hirschberg interviews developmental psychologist Edith Ackermann. Ackermann explains how imagining and realizing novel ideas engages aspects of the mind, body and self that we barely control. Learning, she says, is like the art of living itself, as it is about navigating uncertainties rather than controlling what we cannot predict. Which makes the question as to where digital technologies fit into these complex processes all the more exciting.
The longest anti-government protest in Bulgarian history brought about the resignation of Plamen Oresharski’s cabinet in July. But where does the political process go from here? Nikolay Nikolov remains optimistic about the outcome of the country’s tormented transition to democracy.
The Arab Spring has done nothing to stop business continuing as usual in the art markets of the Gulf states, write Nat Muller and Ferry Biedermann. At the same time, the wrath of the Arab peninsula monarchies continues to rain down on anything that smacks of dissent.
There’s a new Europe-wide refugee movement taking shape. It has succeeded in making the problems refugees face a permanent topic of public debate, one that politicians can no longer ignore. And broad social solidarity with its demands is growing too, writes Martina Mauer.
Afghan Jungle, Hazara Jungle and Palestine House. Such are the names of squats and camps in Calais that have existed in various incarnations for years: the result of two European nations fortifying themselves against crises of their own making, writes Timothy Cooper. History continues to repeat itself.
Never have there been more refugees in the world as today: an estimated 45 million in total. So what’s the current relationship between international law, emancipatory politics and the rights of the rightless? Seyla Benhabib on the urgent need to create new political vistas.
From the long tradition of slum tours to the more recent look of the poorgeoisie, the commodification and aestheticization of poverty seems to know no bounds. Derya Özkan reflects on when contemporary culture begins to empty social issues of any social content.
From 1975 until 2002, the terrorist activities of the revolutionary organization 17 November, or “17N”, preoccupied Greek public opinion and the secret services of several states. Victor Tsilonis critiques the first book offering a view “from within” 17N, by offender-author Dimitris Koufontinas.
The protests of 2012 and 2013 in Slovenia seem to have drawn a blank. People did realize the urgent need for a different kind of politics and more honest leadership of the country, writes Boris Vezjak. But they did not offer ideas for concrete improvements.