Why the Russian Federation is a de facto empire despite the 1993 constitution; why Putin’s imperial but anti-ideological variety of Russian nationalism dominates; why Chechnya remains an open wound on the body politic; and feeling the impact of the Putin regime’s clampdown on intellectual freedoms.
On Olympic ideals and real-world interests: who benefits from the IOC’s policy of apoliticism? Republican games: On France’s hope for a ‘new national narrative’. Capitalist games: ‘Faster, higher, stronger’ as the watchword of the global city.
On the space to the left of European social democracy: Eurocommunism’s continuing legacy; reflections on the rise and fall of Eurocommunism in the UK; and everyday communism in the Austrian city of Graz.
Historicizing Doomsday: how West German ’80s pop marketed angst; why the next generation doesn’t want to live fast and die young; whether we’ve really reached tipping point; an what ‘no future’ meant for early Christians.
In Merkur 900: how the myth of Islamic antisemitism serves the apologists of violence; what the concept of dictatorship conceals about democracies; and why Rainald Goetz is trying not to grow cynical with age.
Shame as political, historical and linguistic category: how shame came to be used to control women; why school is a place both of social mobility and social shame; and whether MeToo marked the end of shame as we knew it.
Artificial intelligence beyond good and evil: connectionist vs. symbolist logic and how to programme creativity; why the algorithmic gaze reproduces neocolonialism in the Middle East; technophobia and what sci fi gets wrong about robots.
Political exiles living in fear: how the Kremlin’s repressive machinery operates far beyond Russia’s borders; why Turkey is no longer a safe haven for foreign dissidents; and the ways new technologies are facilitating transnational repression.
Young perspectives on work: the different value systems of labour; nuances in work-life meaning and purpose; what wage emancipation looks like; and why more responsibility for workers can revitalize the French business landscape.
Three decades of social upheaval: how geopolitical forces within and beyond the South Caucasus continue to displace the region’s populations; the prospects for peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and Georgia’s imperilled democracy approaching a watershed moment.
Queer histories in Estonia(n): featuring 19th-century writing defying heteronormative expectations; why ‘cis-gender’ is a useless concept; Russian-speaking LGBT+ activism; and a history of trans rights in Spain.
Analyses of the decline of Scandinavian social democracy: how marketization has destroyed the Swedish model; on the rise of anti-elitist conservatism in Denmark; and dusting down the concept of the professional managerial class.
Finno-Swedish perspectives on Israel–Palestine: why Tablet’s treatment of poet Refaat Alareer belongs to a bigger story about criticism and war; how women’s football in the OPTs is carrying on regardless; and Israeli writer Mati Shemoelof on the disappearing possibility for peace.
Solidarity for Palestine stops at the Czech border: on the roots of Czech Israel policy since 1989; Czech publishing’s failure to tell the whole story about Palestine; and why Czech media’s Israel bias is symptomatic of its international isolation.
Why Sweden no longer produces politicians of the stature of Palme and Erlander; how the commercial press made Fredrika Bremer into a feminist icon; and whether the giant Zlatan Ibrahimović is a national hero or outsider (or both).
Esprit focuses on Israel-Gaza: What is a meaningful response to the senselessness of 7 October? How can the region converge on a road to peace? Can we learn anything from the new wars of de-civilization?