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donate New Eurozine partner: Zarez
network news The Croatian biweekly "Zarez" is a medium for debate of social, political and cultural issues in the former-Yugoslavian countries and beyond. The journal supports the independent scene in Croatia and is to committed to a "socially responsible" role for "analytical media". [ more ]
Critique and crisis
Reinhart Koselleck's thesis of the genesis of modernity
re-reading The modern consciousness as crisis: Reinhart Koselleck's study of the origins of critique in the Enlightenment and its role in the revolutionary developments of the late eighteenth century is a work of historical hermeneutics whose relevance remains undiminished. [ more ]
Continuities denied
Explaining Europe's reluctance to remember migration
European histories Why does Europe find it so difficult to remember the facts of migration, both voluntary and forced? Reluctance to address the more noxious aspects of collective European identity impedes an engagement with migration history, argues Claus Leggewie. [ more ]
Raiders' state
ukraine Even Ukrainian cultural journals have become the target of "raiders" – shady groups working on behalf of powerful interests who use bogus property claims to close down businesses. The biggest raider of all is the Yanukovych government itself, says Mykola Riabchuk. [ more ]
Talking about my generation
Euro crisis The recession has returned a generation of Spaniards to a cruel reality: that they may have to live with less than their parents did. Whether they alter their expectations or try to stop the clock will be decisive, writes Ramón González Férriz. [ more ]
a look into the latest issues
Sudden and slow-acting poisons
Journals digest "Mittelweg 36" re-reads Jean Améry on torture; "Free Speech Debate" takes on hate speech laws and superinjunctions; "Esprit" enters the French debate on incest; "New Humanist" says rationalism won't stop witch hunters; "Merkur" makes the case for binding quotas for women; "Wespennest" calls for more women essayists; "Osteuropa" considers the future of European security; "Lettera internazionale" decolonizes the European mind; and "Sarajevo Notebook" seeks out the golden oldies of Roma pop. [ more ]
Memory displaced
Re-reading Jean Améry's "Torture"
European histories Jean Améry, writing in 1965, famously called torture "the essence of the Third Reich". Why did Améry, the Holocaust survivor, emphasize torture over the annihilation of the Jews? His choice can be understood in the context of debate on the Algerian war, argues Dan Diner. [ more ]
"O father, what have you done?"
Recovering the golden age of Yugoslavia's Roma music
music Researching Yugoslav Roma music, Philip Knox and Nat Morris tour the Balkans in search of the real thing. They find it in the person of Esma Redzepova – the self-styled Queen of Gypsy music, who claims never to have produced "anything but Roma music of the utmost purity". [ more ]
Rites & responsibilities
Faith The persistence of belief in witchcraft, illustrated by the tragic case of Kristy Bamu, stems from a notion within mainstream Christianity of evil as active, independent agent, argues Sarah Ditum. Yet is another battle against religion the best response? [ more ]
Under pressure
achievement society Since when has individual achievement been considered a social virtue? Nina Verheyen sees its roots in the rejection of the traditional social code at the end of the nineteenth century and disagrees that achievement is a genuinely "bourgeois" virtue. [ more ]
A divine right?
Privacy The use of "superinjunctions" to prevent media from publishing details about the private lives of public figures in the UK has been widely condemned by free speech advocates. Yet not everything that journalists write is protected by the right to free speech, argues Eric Barendt. [ more ]
The harm of hate speech
debate Free speech advocates opposed to the prohibition of hate speech tend to underrate the harm hate speech causes, argues Jeremy Waldron. Where it exists, such legislation upholds a public good by protecting the basic dignitary order of society. [ more ]
The harm of hate speech legislation
debate To argue for hate speech legislation on the basis that it protects the dignity of individuals is to confuse an interest with a fundamental right, argues Ivan Hare. Not only is legislation ineffective, it helps disseminate the very thing it intends to suppress. [ more ]
Subversive Forum
Zagreb, 13-19 May
Public event In May, Zagreb will become a centre of critical thought as the Subversive Forum brings together leading political thinkers including Slavoj Zizek, Samir Amin, Stéphane Hessel, David Van Reybrouck and Saskia Sassen. Eurozine is a partner of the conference. [ more ]
New Eurozine associate: Free Speech Debate
network news Free Speech Debate is a multilingual and participatory website for the discussion of freedom of expression. Its aim, writes director Timothy Garton Ash, is to discover free speech norms that, in an increasingly post-western world, are genuinely universal. [ more ]
Migration: Europe's absent history
european histories Although migration has a long history in Europe, it tends to be treated solely as a present-day issue. Why the reluctance to historicize the subject? Particularly since migration history offers a way to replace narrow, national narratives with one that is properly European. [ more ]
Günter Grass, antisemitism and the inflation of evil
grass controversy Denunciation of Günter Grass's poem "What must be said" typifies a fundamentalist understanding of antisemitism that operates outside the realm of fact, argues Antony Lerman. If the poem is so heinous, what response would ever be appropriate to genuine antisemitism? [ more ]
A completely different battle
book review Serbia's neo-fascist political establishment is the target of Svetislav Basara's satirical novel "Mein Kampf", from which not even the country's modernizing figures emerge unscathed. Not surprisingly, the reaction has been one of irritation, writes Ivan Telebar. [ more ]
A beautifying lie?
Culture and kitsch @ London2012
London olympics The opening ceremony of the London Olympics, themed "The Isle of Wonders", will offer a pastiche of national identity in which the darker sides of the British psyche are lost in a multiculturalist high-kitsch spectacular, anticipates Phil Cohen. [ more ]
Gründerzeit City 2.1
architecture From tenement to prototype: the monumental apartment buildings of nineteenth-century residential districts, often former rental barracks, today offer potential for a form of "vertical densification" that goes beyond the loft extension, writes Ida Pirstinger. [ more ]
Another groundhog day in Greece?
euro crisis The suicide of a pensioner outside the Greek parliament, the latest in a series, sums up the mood of a population confronted with the steady erosion of its rights. Victor Tsilonis wonders whether tomorrow will be just another day in Greece's "predestined" future. [ more ]
Collective Bonapartism?
Democracy in the European crisis
european crisis Europe's democratic deficit is not inherent to its constitutional definition, argues Hauke Brunkhorst, rather a result of the chasm between political control and economic governance, instituted by ordoliberals and widened further by their neoliberal successors. [ more ]
The failure of European intellectuals?
European histories Intellectuals have been accused of failing to restore a European confidence undermined by crisis. Yet calls for legitimating European narratives reflect the logic of nineteenth-century nation building, argues Jan-Werner Müller. What, then, should Europe's intellectuals be doing? [ more ]
Standards of evasion
Croatia and the "Europeanization of memory"
European histories Poised on the verge of Union membership, Croatia has replaced the historical revisionism of the 1990s by a memory politics avowedly based on "European standards". Yet is the Europeanization of memory synonymous with a critical approach to the national past? [ more ]
Farmers in fairy-tale land
Poland and the European crisis
Euro crisis Lack of political decision-making and the demise of objectivism have landed Europe where it is today, argues Marcin Król. A lesson could be learned from Poland, whose tradition of economic liberalism and rural pragmatism has enabled the country to weather the crisis. [ more ]
Behind the headlines
Terror in Norway
In focus The opening day of the trial against Anders Behring Breivik received massive attention across Europe. Breivik remained stony-faced as prosecutors read aloud the names of those killed and injured in Oslo and on Utřya, but started to cry as the court viewed the film he posted online prior to the attacks. We have collected some of the texts on the terror attacks and their aftermath published in Eurozine since 22 July 2011. [ more ]
The last crusade
Values The claim that Christianity embodies the bedrock of European cultural values simplifies both the history of Christianity and the roots of democracy, argues Kenan Malik. Ironically, the defenders of "Christendom" draw on the same politics of identity as Islamists and multiculturalists. [ more ]
Caught in the web
Radicalization There are clear signs that Internet-radicalization was behind the terrorism of Anders Behring Breivik. Though most research on this points to jihadism, it can teach us a lot about how Internet-radicalization of all kinds can be fought. [ more ]
Hell on Utřya
Utřya shooting A summer fairytale was turned into Norway's worst nightmare, writes Prableen Kaur, vice chairperson of the Oslo labour youth organization. She was attending the summer camp on Utřya when terror struck. This is her account given just hours after she escaped.
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Read also More articles in the focal point Terror in Norway
Words and deeds
hate speech The cultural editor of "Jyllands-Posten" argues that the erroneous presumption that anti-Semitic propaganda was directly responsible for the Holocaust resulted in a post-war consensus on banning hate speech that ended up its own worst enemy.
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The euro crisis: Central European lessons
Euro crisis Central European responses to the euro crisis have been marked by a total absence of regional solidarity, writes Jacques Rupnik. Differing national situations explain varying perceptions of the crisis' risks and remedies and can be seen in terms of political lessons learned. [French version added] [ more ]
Shifting shapes of Europe
interview Sociologist Gerard Delanty revisits his 1995 book "Inventing Europe", talking about the possibilities of post-national citizenship, Europe's complex Christian identity, and why accounts of Europe today must include the heritage of the peripheries. [ more ]
Europe as merger
European union Company mergers often fail for reasons comparable to the problems currently facing Europe, writes lawyer Benno Heussen. Cautiously optimistic about unionization, he argues that Europe's success will depend on the establishment of "flexible interfaces". [ more ]
Restoring the relationship between philosophy and its audiences
philosophy French philosophy is in danger of splitting up into its three main areas of practice: academia, teaching and public debate. While the differentiation of these areas is as fundamental as the Socratic dialogue, compartmentalization is leading to disconnection and confusion. [ more ]
Forty years of Index history
network news To celebrate its fortieth anniversary, Index on Censorship has made all of its back issues freely available online. "A literary treasure trove and also an historic document of the extremes of human behaviour – from man at his most inhumane to man at his courageous." [ more ]
Radical chic? Yes we are!
Political aesthetics Ever since Tom Wolfe in a 1970 essay coined the term "radical chic", upper-class flirtation with radical causes has been ridiculed. But by separating aesthetics from politics Wolfe was actually more reactionary than the people he criticized, writes Johan Frederik Hartle. [ more ]
From multiculturalism to interculturalism
multiculturalism The British Conservative Party's alternative to "state-sponsored multiculturalism" encourages community activities promoting "mainstream values". Ali Rattansi sees the initiative as the latest in a series of attempts across Europe to blame multiculturalist policies for social fracture. [ more ]
Getting better
violence Conventional wisdom has it that violence is as prevalent today as it has ever been. Yet a vast body of evidence shows that the chances of an inhabitant of this planet dying violently have never been lower, writes Dan O'Brien, reviewing two new books on the history of violence. [ more ]
The tune of the future
Italy: old Europe, new Europe, changing Europe
reportage Venice versus Lampedusa: travelling around Italy, Slavenka Drakulic observes one kind of Europe being replaced by another. Instead of attempting to conserve the cultural past, we should accept that migration will adapt much of what we consider "European" to its own image. [ more ]
The land of blood and money
film Angelina Jolie's new film about a love affair between a Serb and Muslim, set during the Bosnian war, taps into a familiar dramatic trope but fails to explore the subversive potential contained in the victim-perpetrator relationship, argues Srecko Horvat. [ more ]
IMF economist: Crisis begins with inequality
An interview with Michael Kumhof
economics Unless countries reduce income disparities the next financial collapse is inevitable, argues economist Michael Kumhof. Perhaps a surprising conclusion from a senior researcher at the IMF. In interview he argues that equality is the best recipe against crisis. [ more ]
The dismembered virgin as pawn of genocide
literature Kleist's drama "Die Herrmannsschlacht" has generally been read as a national call to arms against the Napoleonic forces. Jan Süselbeck looks instead at the role of women in this "Germanic Jihad", re-reading Kleist's drama in the light of analyses of "asymmetric war". [ more ]
The sense of an ending
russia Blatantly rigged elections are the easiest way for the Putin regime to mimic the authoritarian power it does not possess. December's protests destroyed Putin's reputation of being in control; even genuinely competitive elections would be unable to restore his legitimacy. [Estonian version added] [ more ]
Broken Europe?
More justice through more Europe
An interview with Ulrich Beck
Cosmopolitan Europe While discrepancies between EU member states can be overlooked during win-win periods of growth, recession triggers xenophobic and anti-European reactions in both rich and poor countries. In interview, Ulrich Beck explains how inequality leaves the Union susceptible to decay. Building on the sense of a common European destiny engendered by the crisis, how can Europe be communicated as an opportunity for more power rather than a threat to national sovereignty? [ more ]
Greece: The history behind the collapse
Greece Greece's economic crisis has its roots in a political pact dating back to the foundation of the modern state, writes Georges Prévélakis. The threat posed to Europe by the Greek breakdown is less contagion than a wave of anti-western feeling that could exacerbate geopolitical instabilities. [ more ]
The euro crisis seen from atop the Empire State Building
euro crisis Europe's leaders need to take a hard look across the Atlantic before they start dismantling the Union: emulating the US would risk forfeiting the things that make Europe the best of all worlds. George Blecher offers some reassuring words about the European project and its future. [ more ]
Where were you when Europe fell apart?
Broken Europe Too many Europeans have too long avoided the question of Europe, says Swedish writer Per Wirtén. To prevent the EU from turning into a "post-democratic regime of bureaucrats", intellectuals need to stop mumbling and take the fear of Europe seriously. [Catalan version added] [ more ]
Read also All articles in the focal point The EU: Broken or just broke?
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European histories
European histories: Concord and conflict
Focal point In recent years, the possibility of a "grand narrative" that includes both East and West in a common European story has been discussed intensely. In a new Focal Point, Eurozine seeks to broaden the question beyond the East-West historical divide. How are contested interpretations of historical and recent events made active in the present, both uniting and dividing European societies?
Europe invents the Gypsies
The dark side of modernity
Roma Social segregation, cultural appropriation: the six-hundred-year history of the European Roma, as recorded in literature and art, represents the underside of the European subject's self-invention as agent of civilizing progress in the world, writes Klaus-Michael Bogdal. [ more ]
Racism in a post-racial Europe
racism Critique of culturalism as a polite form of Eurocentrism is to be distinguished from the new wave of anti-multiculturalism, argues Alana Lentin. Ostensibly aimed at the illiberalism of multiculturalism's "beneficiaries", the latter expresses intolerance of "bad diversity". [ more ]
Recent history and the new dangers of politicization
colonialism With the past ceasing to be a body of knowledge and becoming a public issue, a new form of political influence has exerted itself upon historians, warns Pierre Nora. In France, the subject of colonialism is particularly controversial. More than ever it is crucial historians retain critical distance. [ more ]
Unreliable narrators
Witness accounts and the institutionalization of European history
narrative A preference for witness accounts in European museums creates a blandly affirmative surface under which narrative authority continues to operate. Questions of reliability aside, is a witness-based history even able to fulfil the necessary task of narrating Europe's political identity? [ more ]
Read also More articles on European histories: Concord and conflict
Presidentialism: The French disease
An interview with Daniel Cohn-Bendit
France The narrowly national agendas of the French presidential candidates, combined with a fixation on individuals over issues and impossible pledges, damages the democratic process and weakens French interests internationally, argues Daniel Cohn-Bendit. [ more ]
The face of the masses, the gaze of the masses
New matrixes of historical consciousness in inter-war Europe
political aesthetics The objectively perceived mass with its collective "face", formless and thus formable? Or the mass as a subjective entity, endowed with a perceptual apparatus of its own? The drama of the Weimar Republic unfolded between these two poles, writes Stefan Jonsson. [ more ]
Towards an illiberal democracy
Hungary's new constitution
Hungary Hungary's new constitution contradicts European standards on numerous counts: it sets in stone government policy; it is biased towards "ethnic" Hungarians; and it undermines the independence of regulatory institutions including the constitutional court and media. [ more ]
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