Articles

Overlapping crises, enforced political passivity, a new political normal: all things that gradually dismantle a democracy. Ferenc Laczó talks the death of democracy in a new episode of Gagarin.

For younger Roma novelists, writing about recent Roma experience often means overcoming taboos within their own culture. But for Maria Siváková, who chooses to write in Czech, the greatest motivation is the need to challenge majority stereotypes.

The original assembly in 12th century Spain was not a space for popular democracy, but for tough bargaining and long distance government. After 800 years of evolution and facing civilizational challenges, parliaments need to further transform to meet the moment and deliver on the promise of inclusion. Can watchdog parliaments gather enough steam to effectively restrain those in power?

The feeling that we are being watched by a wild animal can lead to shock. Suddenly we comprehend how immense the world is, and how overwhelmingly lonely we feel.

As police carry away protesters blocking oil carriers, a very detailed and technical debate is unfolding about the framework to introduce the notion of ecocide in international criminal law. Social scientists and legal experts debate the approach, and Victor Tsilonis cautions them to always consider practical applications.

Most European cities were never meant to withstand the kind of heat they are facing now – and accelerating every year. Climate proofing cities has to be done equitably. When done right, there is social potential in the transformation.

Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s imperialist war has discredited the spheres of influence theory once and for all. The EU is being forced to reappraise not just its security policy, but also its colonial mindset towards smaller countries beyond its borders. Part of the series ‘Lessons of war: The rebirth of Europe revisited’.

The Russian attack on Ukraine has plunged Europe into a security crisis. So far the reaction has been united. But quick-fix defence spending is one thing, a long-term strategic response quite another. Part of the series ‘Lessons of war: The rebirth of Europe revisited.’

In his book ‘The Torture Camp on Paradise Street’, the Ukrainian author Stanislav Aseyev has written about his experience of imprisonment and torture in occupied Donetsk. Talking to the Polish journal ‘Dwutygodnik’, he explains why he is pessimistic about Russian society ever accepting responsibility for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Introducing a series on the implications of Russia’s war on Ukraine for the future of the European Union, Eurozine co-founders Carl Henrik Fredriksson and Klaus Nellen contrast Europe’s response today with opposition to the Iraq invasion in 2003.

Solidarity with Ukraine has created strong momentum for greater European integration. But the challenges facing the Union are essentially geopolitical: the condition of any European rebirth is a radical change in relations with the Global South. Part of the series ‘Lessons of war: The rebirth of Europe revisited’.

While Sweden and Finland join NATO, Austria clings to its neutrality as a higher good. But as the Austrian example makes plain, neutrality is a reaction and not the outcome of a sovereign action. To remain neutral is to let the aggressor carry on in the hope that you will avoid harm yourself.

Russian aggression, climate disaster and technological singularity – it takes a professional optimist to seek the humanist potential in these threats. An interview with André Wilkens, director of the European Cultural Foundation.

Calls to reform Germany’s public service broadcasters have been intense following the ARD corruption affair in 2022. A culture of corporate democracy substitutes genuine representation, while rigid hierarchies invite abuses of power. Greater civic participation must be enabled at all levels.

When flexible hours and remote working have become the norm, the public healthcare sector is struggling to retain workers who want a better work-life balance, better pay and less hierarchical workplaces. The system was not built with these demands in mind, write four French hospital directors.

Despite divisive nationalist politics, there are those who manage to overcome the odds, forming meaningful acts of solidarity. Eurozine’s new focal point ‘The world in pieces’ looks critically at what divides, tackling the complexities of destablized identity.