Feed
Articles published in Eurozine
From "big character posters" to blogs
Facets of independent self-expression in China
Despite predictions to the contrary, the Internet has not brought about abrupt political change in China and is not likely to do so anytime soon. Its significance and implications for Chinese society lie elsewhere, writes Martin Hala. [German version added] [more]
Not an island
Europe and the Middle East
Europe can play a major role in averting conflict in the Middle East, says Joschka Fischer. But does it have the instruments and institutions to do so? Given the urgency of the situation, can Europeans afford the luxury of being against Europe? [more]
European memory politics revisited
European commemorative culture is an integral component of the post-national process. But how can a "European memory" be justified if we aren't to refer to a continental, quasi-national entity? [more]
Eight remarks on populism
A fissure has opened up between citizens and power, information gaps that invite conspiracy theories and patent recipes. The parliamentary process is empirically the best antidote to populism; its gradual erosion presents one of the greatest challenges to contemporary liberal politics. [more]
The populist moment
Unlike the extremist parties of the 1930s, the new populist movements do not aim to abolish democracy: quite the opposite, writes Ivan Krastev. What we are witnessing is a conflict between elites suspicious of democracy and increasingly illiberal publics. [Lithuanian version added] [more]
Right turn
Polish politics at the beginning of the twenty-first century
Alternatives to the anti-communism and national conservatism of Poland's two main rightwing parties are barely offered by a Centre-Left tarnished by corruption scandals. With new elections set for 21 October, it seems unlikely that Poland will alter its course rightwards. [Bulgarian version added] [more]
Populism in Eastern Central Europe
Directly after the fall of communism, hopes burgeoned for democracy in the "new" Eastern Central Europe. What does the current climate of populism mean for these hopes and how does it affect these countries' relations with the EU? [Bulgarian version added] [more]
Martyrdom, patria, and the cult of dead warriors
Maleness and soteriology in war
The battle of Langemarck in 1914, in the course of which up to 20 000 German soldiers died, became a powerful myth of youth, honour, maleness, and martyrdom for National Socialism. The fascist slogan "Death lives!" expressed the transformation of biopower into "death power" in the racist model of the nation. [more]
Perfecting the human being
Death and immortality in post- and trans-humanism
Post- and trans-humanism's relentlessly utopian responses to the "problem of mortality" are the flipside to Günther Anders' diagnosis of "Promethian shame". [more]
Religion, European secular identities, and European integration
The rapid process of secularization in western Europe has not diminished the unease with which Europe considers Islam and Muslims in its midst. In this benchmark essay from 2004, José Casanova argues that the "Islam problem" is an indicator of the disparity between liberal and illiberal strands of European secularism. [Lithuanian version added] [more]
Old Europe
A look ahead to the twenty-first century
With rising life expectancy, stagnating working-age populations, and low birth rates, Europe faces a demographic challenge over the next fifty years the likes of which it has never known. [French version added] [more]
The impact of immigration on American society
Looking backward to the future
In a survey of the history of American immigration, Charles Hirschman points out that almost all popular fears about immigration and even the negative judgements of "experts" have been proven false by history. [more]
Islamic evangelism
Islam in Europe
It is a mistake to think that religious and political radicalism among European Muslims is a mere import from the cultures and conflicts of the Middle East. It is above all a consequence of the globalization and Westernization of Islam, writes Olivier Roy. [more]
The Islamist identity
Islam, European public space, and civility
It is not distance from, but proximity to modern life that triggers a return to religious identity among migrant Muslims in Europe, says Nilüfer Göle. The religious self for individual Muslims is being shifted from the private to the public realm. [more]
Fluid citizenship
Utopia of freedom or reality of submission?
Large sections of the populations of countries at the peripheries of the EU are in permanent migratory motion. The trend towards overcoming arbitrary socio-political territories has its apotheosis in the Internet's utopian horizon of absolute mobility. [French and German versions added] [more]
Anatomy of a crisis
The Referendum and the dilemmas of the enlarged European Union
The derailing of the EU constitution in 2005 raised fears that Europe would become divided and increasingly unstable. On the underlying causes and possible consequences of the crisis of the European project. [English version added] [more]
A "pause for thought" without the thought?
Possible ways to talk about the future of the EU today
The one-year "pause for thought" launched by Europe's elites after the rejection of the EU constitution in 2005 was extended in June 2006. This time could be used to discuss the pros and cons of competing Euro-visions, writes Jan-Werner Müller. [French version added] [more]
Equally criminal?
Totalitarian experience and European memory
Whoever wishes to give European society a political identity will rate the discussion of disputed memories as highly as treaties, a common currency, and open borders. [more]
The return of the radicals
The radical government stems from that section of the Solidarity movement opposed to the route transformation took after 1989. Their cultural conservatism has landed on fertile ground in a contemporary Poland suffering from social alienation and distrust in democratic institutions [more]
The legislation of 1905
Should France's laws from 1905 regulating laïcité be reformed after a century of changes in the religious composition of French society? [more]
The burden of history and the trap of memory
The displacement of Germans at the end of WWII has re-entered the public debate with the TV drama "Die Flucht" [The escape]. Philipp Ther discusses the reasons for the shift in the way the German wartime past is being remembered. [more]
The question of tolerance in Islamic societies
Today's Muslim societies must consider afresh the question of tolerance, and ask why they find themselves mired in indecision and resentment, says Abdesselam Cheddadi. [more]
The role of religion in establishing social cohesion
Nostalgic references to a religious past will not help solve the question of a "European soul". Yes, this past is both glorious and painful, but it no longer exists, writes Daničle Hervieu-Léger. Instead, the weakening of the foundations of religion could prove to be a good starting point for a more specific reconsideration of European religious heritage. [more]
The western dimension of the making of modern Ukraine
The history of Ukrainian independence begins with the revolution in 1848, and thereafter is shaped by European and Russian interests. [more]
Balancing the books
European history needs to include both Western and Eastern experiences. Then, solidarity rather than national prejudice would motivate public opinion on matters of European politics. [more]
Reasons for the current upsurge in memory
Over the past quarter century, social structures have undergone a sea change in their traditional relationship to the past. Pierre Nora examines the roots and causes of "memorialism". [Hungarian and Lithuanian versions added] [more]
Is Ukraine heading for breakup?
Parts of Ukraine threaten to seek autonomy from the capital Kiev. Tatiana Zhurzhenko looks at what is behind these threats. How big is the risk of Ukraine falling apart? [more]
Ukraine's Solidarity
Ukrainian author Oksana Zabuzhko walks the streets of Kiev and witnesses an unprecedented upsurge of national solidarity. "To put it simply," she writes, "'they' are the power - the most widely hated power in Ukraine since Soviet times. And 'we' - we are the people." [more]
Ukraine: an opportunity for Europe
There are moments in history when one must think broadly and ambitiously. To secure democracy in Ukraine is certainly in the interest of the European Union, writes Timothy Snyder. It is also a test for a Europe that wishes to play a role in the world. [more]
The second turning point
The Ukrainians fight for their right to a democratic state
What we see in the Ukraine today is a second turning point. Without a democratic and European Ukraine, Europe risks being brought back to the times of the Cold War. [more]
Triumph of evil
Portrait of a war criminal
Slavenka Draculic on Radislav Krstic, the first war criminal to be indicted in The Hague for his role in the Srebrenica massacre. [more]
Eurolocal perspectives towards the EU
Imagining the European Union as a nation-state
In Bulgaria, the EU has replaced the nation-state as a symbol of authority. Nevertheless, regional identity won't get lost, since regions "are a configuration of liminalities that overlap and accrue, providing different options". [Swedish version added] [more]
An invisible wall
The hidden factor of Belarusian reality
Who is to blame for the political stagnation in Belarus? [more]
Why Ukrainians are Ukrainians
A Commentary on Mykola Riabchuk's "Ukraine: One State, two Countries"?
What does it take to build a civil society in the Ukraine? [more]
Ukraine: One State, Two Countries?
Does the Ukrainian political elite use the country's deep sense of political ambivalence to stay in power? [more]
The myth of two Ukraines
A Commentary on Mykola Riabchuk's "Ukraine: One State, two Countries"?
Can the Ukraine overcome the rift between the 'europeanized' West and the 'russified' East of the country? [more]
Poland as the sick man of Europe?
Jedwabne, "post-memory" and historians
Joanna Tokarska-Bakir investigates the defence mechanisms triggered by the European past: on the one hand the Holocaust guilt-complex and on the other the language historians use to talk about it. [more]
Right wing populism as class struggle
France after April 21st
Where did it all go wrong for the French political elite? [more]
Transnational movements and the question of democracy
Social movements can provide an early warning system to mainstream politics. But once institutionalized, their lack of democratic mandate raises problems of legitimacy. This paradox must be negotiated if democracy is to respond to the global situation. [more]
Between democratic fatigue and the politics of fear
The French presidential elections 2002
This was no regular presidential election, it was a referendum on basic commitment to democratic values and an open society. Jacques Rupnik takes a look at French politics and discovers a radical shift. [more]
Where Does Solidarity End?
What changes do trade unions need to implement in order to construct a meaningful and just framework for today's workforce? [more]
The Communist Past in Post-Communist Russia
Alexei Miller on the flaws, achievements, problems and development of Russia's process of dealing with its Communist past. [more]
Contemporary Russian Nationalism between East and West
In the current Russian conditions of social and political fragmentation, nationalism has - inevitably - become a very important factor in the country's development, writes A. Khazanov. [more]
Poland: In or Out?
Where is the West of Europe and where is its East? At hand of the Polish example, Jacek Kochanowicz looks at an elusive border that remains difficult to draw on either side of a country. [more]
Returning to Reality
Culture, Modernisation and Various Eastern Europes
Daniel Chirot warns that the differentiation between "East" and "Central" Europe draws a new border between "East" and "West" which will result in excluding the poorer parts of Europe and will keep them poorer in delaying their modernisation. [more]
EU Enlargement to the East
The Anatomy of a Reticence
A decade after the collapse of communism, the EU has still not been extended towards the East. Can Europe meet the challenge of integration for integration's sake? [more]
(Hi)Story, Truth and Nation
Building a "new" South Africa
Story-telling as a major component of building a national identity, the definitions of nations and nation states as well as the significance of history and memory are the building blocks that need to be considered in understanding how South Africa will develop a "new" identity. [more]
Tainted Humanity
The Dilemma of Military Interventions
As a response to the NATO intervention in Kosovo, a debate erupted as to the moral basis of humanitarian interventions: How can one reconcile the fact that the defence of one group's rights endangers those of another? [more]
Religion and the profane
"The difference between the success of Islam and the failure of Marxism is that [...] Islam never claimed that work is sacred." Ernest Gellner, speaking in 1995, draws surprising comparisons between Marxism and Islam. [more]
Democratic exclusion - and its consequences
Democracy as a political model demands, more than anything else, inclusion. However it also contains a dynamic of exclusion. Charles Taylor asks how this tendency can be counteracted. [more]
In the Prism of the Local
As globalisation takes root, local traditions and forms of life vanish faster than they did before. Simultaneously, we find better ways of reserving those lost traditions. Forms of life are not erased in creolised culture, they take on new and integrating shapes. [more]