Focal Points

Post-revolutionary Ukrainian society displays a unique mix of hope, enthusiasm, social creativity, collective trauma of war, radicalism and disillusionment. With the Maidan becoming history, this focal point – in cooperation with the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) – explores the new challenges facing the young democracy and its place in Europe.

Europe’s current debate on Russia is focused on what the country lacks – democracy, rule of law, modernization. At the same time, Russia is far from immune to conspiracy theories attempting to explain the modern world. With Moscow’s recent return to power politics and the fear of a new Cold War there is an urgent need for the Western public to re-engage with the complexity of Russia. This focal point – in cooperation with the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) – is an attempt to answer this need.

Digital technologies are increasingly seen as an antidote to the complaints of…

Fake news has become big news. Post-truth is the new paradigm. Respect for facticity is becoming, by all accounts, a commercial anachronism. And behind it all, the spectre of an illiberal international waging ‘info-war’ against western democracies.