Blätter
Eurozine
Blätter
2011-08-02
Summary Blätter 8/2011
Jürgen Habermas
How democratic is the EU? The crisis of the European Union in light of the emerging of the international law
In the current debate about the Euro crisis, the European Union seems to merely be an economic coalition. Jürgen Habermas, Professor of Philosophy at the University Frankfurt and co-editor of Blätter, criticizes this economical narrowing of scope, especially with respect to the German federal government's reasoning. Habermas emphasizes that the EU has primarily always been a political project and asks the German government to return to a more pro-European course.
Karl Schlögel
Russia's second modernization
Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is a land marked by enormous differences: While the oligarchs own billions of Dollars, the majority of the population lives in abject poverty. Karl Schlögel, Professor of Eastern European History at the European University Viadrina, develops a grand narrative of the country's history and modernization attempts in the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Reinhard Loske
Efficiency vs. sufficiency: The green schism
The German Greens currently seem to be on an unparalleled winning track. However, both the party and the environmental movement are ideologically divided: While the agents of efficiency count on new technological solutions to ecological problems, the protagonists of sufficiency demand a general cultural change of the society. Reinhard Loske, former Minister for Environment of the federal state Bremen, analyzes the green schism and develops proposals to overcome the political division.
Janna Greve
The dark side of the resource boom. How mining undermines human rights
Without mineral resources there are no energy supply, no high-tech industry und no luxury goods -- we all depend on the mining industry. Political scientist Janna Greve focuses on the harsh conditions hidden behind the window dressing of the global mining industry and their clients. She shows the disastrous effects for nature and human beings caused by the ruthless extraction of resources and points out ways to overcome the flaws of the market.
Ellen Ehmke
India: Work for all? The world's largest employment scheme
India's rapid economic growth does not only lead to a growing middle class; it simultaneously increases poverty. To combat the rise of poverty, the government in New Delhi has started a giant employment program. Political scientist Ellen Ehmke analyses the concept, scope and results of the program: Does it contribute to a just growth?
Andrej Holm
The right to the city
Worldwide, new urban protest movements are increasingly referring to the slogan "right to the city". Urban sociologist Andrej Holm shows the roots and contents of Henri Lefebvre's key concern. With numerous examples -- in particular from Hamburg and Berlin -- Holm illustrates how gentrification in the "entrepreneurial city" is mobilizing very different social groups -- from the marginalized to the "revolt of the middle class".
Benjamin Mikfeld
In search for a common ground. Thinking about the future of the pluralistic left
The global economic and financial crisis has not strengthened, but weakened the political left. Analysing the reasons, social scientist Benjamin Mikfeld suggests going back to Antonio Gramsci and Peter Glotz -- for only if the left targets hegemony, it can come up with emancipatory answers and new strategies.
Vanessa Brandes
Literary demarcations. German writers and the construction of the Berlin Wall
With the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, the division between East and West Germany reached its height. Literary scientist Vanessa Brandes asks how the split between GDR and FRG was reflected by young German writers of that time: How were Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Peter Hacks, Christa Wolf und Heiner Müller, Walter Kempowski, Uwe Johnson and Günter Grass looking at the political divisions?