The thinkers of the Radical Enlightenment pursued ideas of equality and democracy to their logical conclusions, envisioning a systematic egalitarianism extending across all frontiers, class barriers and horizons. Jonathan Israel in conversation with Kenan Malik.
When politics and the arts collide, “coded speech” invariably becomes the norm on stage and in books, newspapers and public discourse. Géza Kovács tries to unravel why it is that the arts in central and eastern Europe keep getting thrown into the whirlwind of historic change.
As democratic imaginaries linked to new protest movements circulate globally, Nilüfer Göle reassesses relations between the public sphere and democracy; and shows how the Gezi Park movement, among others, has used public space as a site for the rehearsal of new forms of citizenship.
The protests of a new generation in Turkey constitute a turning point in contemporary Turkish history and a great ray of hope, writes historian and journalist Dilek Zaptcioglu. At long last, a third way has opened between Islamic and Kemalist groupings, and it leads to liberal democratic values.
If the concept of global human rights is to endure, a new and more political, transnational and adaptable movement must emerge, argues Stephen Hopgood. Only then might bottom-up democratic norms replace top-down authoritative rules.
The deep historical roots of European culture may not lie in the geographical and political entity of today’s Europe. But it is precisely here that the feeling of belonging inspired by the best that has been thought and said (and sung and painted and danced) needs cultivating, argues Enda O’Doherty.
Exiting the EU and eurozone will not of itself solve Greece’s long-term problems. For these the country’s corrupt and unworthy political class is to blame, argues David Oderberg. He calls for a new Greek awakening to remove this cancer on the body politic.
Jan-Werner Müller deals with critical issues raised by his proposals for a Copenhagen Commission: an independent institution specifically tasked with alerting Europe to threats to democracy, the liberal rule of law and individual rights such as those currently seen in Hungary.
Only when one considers the history of Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, can one really honour the supreme effort of jazz musicians to maintain their propellant positivity. Howard Slater reflects on free jazz as a disalienating force that shaped a new collective culture.
Europe should prepare itself for long-term cooperation with the energy-rich kleptocracy that has developed on its eastern borders. Because, given that the personal enrichment of politicians is part of the very foundation of the regime, Russia’s ruling political elite is not about to change any time soon.
That Russia will never be a superpower as the USSR once was leaves it searching for a new international identity. Fyodor Lukyanov argues that Moscow’s policy today is a skilful imitation of striving for global status, intended to conceal the narrowing of the sphere of its immediate interests.
She was once the female icon of the Orange Revolution. Lately, the drama of repressed Ukrainian democracy has been staged upon the immobilized and tortured body of the imprisoned opposition leader. But how much longer can this postmodern political spectacle go on?
Ever since the outburst of protests and political discontent around the December 2011 elections in Russia, the country seems to be on the verge of change. But what kind of change? Will civic unrest, which persists with a varying, but hardly increasing intensity, bring about democratization, or will it induce Putin to introduce measures that strengthen his control? Russian political analyst Nikolay Petrov presents his reading of recent developments.
The IWM series “Books in perspective” presents publications related to the Institute’s research fields to the local academic community. Authors are invited to discuss their ideas with the audience. On 22 May 2012, Russian literary scholar Alexander Etkind talked about his recent work Internal Colonization. Russia’s Imperial Experience (Polity, 2011). Here, he explains why he wrote this book.
The “Stalinist order” continues to lurk in aesthetic forms and written documents; from an architectural perspective, it lives on as long as the buildings survive. And merges with the new order, in which the new “elite” buy up the same buildings and imitative newbuilds for artificially inflated prices.
Former communist countries, whether in the EU or on its threshold, should remind themselves more often of what life was like for them only twenty years ago. For Croatia, peace and security should be more important than expected economic gains from EU membership, writes Slavenka Drakulic.