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donate "Proust is important for everyone"
conversation In conversation with sociologist Gilles Lipovetsky, novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa discusses the relative merits of "high" and "mass" culture in the contemporary world and defends the ideas explored in his recent book "La civilización del espectáculo". [ more ]
Goodbye future?
democracy Structural problems in conventional democracies are alienating citizens worldwide, writes Stephen Holmes. Political marketing, cross-party compromise and elite withdrawal threaten to rob democracy of its original role as instrument of justice. [ more ]
The Norwegian public sphere after Breivik
Norway A more exacting and cosmopolitan public debate has emerged in Norway since the terror attacks of 2011, writes the cultural editor of "Aftenposten". Yet, despite assurances, the renaissance of critical journalism has not translated into greater political transparency. [ more ]
The Mediterranean: Room without a view
Mediterranean The mythical Mediterranean of the tourist imagination masks a reality of debt, stagnation and social decline. Yet the region colludes in its own downfall, writes Jurica Pavicic, trading in former glories while acquiescing to political and economic exploitation. [Italian version added] [ 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. [Hungarian version added] [ more ]
Europe invents the Gypsies
The dark side of modernity
European histories 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 ]
The sense of an ending
elections 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. [ more ]
Repercussions
Historical perspectives on the Arab revolutions
arab revolutions The discontent fuelling the Arab revolutions has its roots in a western politics of divide and rule, argues Gérard Khoury. Will democratically elected Arab leaders break with the past, or will new repressive regimes emerge sustained by western complicity? [ 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. [Hungarian version added] [ 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. [ more ]
Islam and democracy
The history of an approximation
iran In Iran, official revolutionary dogma has obliged "post-Islamist" philosophers to provide profound justifications for Islam's compatibility with democracy. Katajun Amirpur puts contemporary Iranian thinking on religion and politics in the context of Khomeini-era anti-westernism. [ more ]
Change must start from within
Roma integration: EU rhetoric and institutional reality
interview European members are now answerable to the European Commission regarding the integration of Roma. But what are the chances of national policies succeeding if structural anti-Roma racism exists within European institutions themselves? [ 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 ]
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 ]
Traces that won't go away
The Gastarbeiter fifty years on
labour migration The first Turkish "Gastarbeiter" arrived in Germany fifty years ago. Since then, their reception in German society has swung between enthusiasm and hostility. Yüksel Pazarkaya summarizes the history of the migrant workers, drawing conclusions for today's debate on integration. [ more ]
Vibrant matter, zero landscape
Interview with Jane Bennett
philosophy Philosopher Jane Bennett explains what she understands by "vital materialism" and why rightwing religious rhetoric led her to entertain the notion of an "undesigned order of materiality" possessing "the dynamic, incalculable, awesome and awful qualities elsewhere ascribed to God". [ more ]
Aftershock
11 September A decade after the destruction of the Twin Towers, we need to resolve that "Islam", as a singular noun, or "Muslims" as a collectivity are simply not good things to think with or about, let alone for or against. Stephen Howe tracks the tremors after 9/11. [ more ]
The sustainability of democracy
On limits to growth, the post-democratic turn and reactionary democrats
democracy Emancipation, the central demand of democracy, has come to mean liberation from restrictive social and ecological imperatives. Before proposing radical participatory solutions we need to ask how democracy itself serves the politics of unsustainability, argues Ingolfur Blühdorn. [ more ]
Age of insecurity
privacy Cooperation between the communications industry and governments creates unprecedented opportunities for surveillance. Lets not repeat the mistakes of the past and allow companies to assume that users are uninterested in what happens to their data, urge Gus Hosein and Eric King. [ more ]
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