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?
Gezi Park forever: why Erdoğan hasn’t seen the end of Turkey’s biggest ever protest movement. A country in constant conflict: Turkey’s oppressors and oppressed. And from the diaspora and back: A Turkish-Swedish family history.
Esprit on the French far-right: Why Marine Le Pen can’t shake off the radicals; how Vincent Bolloré’s media are going back to the ’30s; and what to do about fascist jouissance.
Against resource determinism: why wars over water aren’t inevitable; taking back control of food; and why climate change isn’t the fault of humanity.
Female artists and writers reflect on forms of (im)mobility: why Agnieszka Holland’s film ‘Green Border’ is too middle-class; cultural stasis as perceived by Ukrainian filmmakers Maryna Stepanska and Iryna Tsilyk; and the hidden history of Poland’s upwardly mobile internal migrants.
Critical assessments of a century of Turkish republicanism: why a utopian revival would do the country good; what official history does not say about feminism; how the republic lost supporters left and right; and why the media have rarely been independent, as Atatürk intended.
On the rise of strongmen politicians (and a few strong women): why they are variations on a global theme. Also: Putin’s prospects after possible defeat; Xi’s reasons for keeping out; and Le Pen’s calculations on how to win.
How can cultural journalism remain independent in an increasingly bleak economic environment? On the Nordic model of public funding for journals and what stops it from being exported; and why art and music criticism in Germany is being compromised by journals’ exclusive reliance on advertising.
On aesthetics, power and conflict: how war makes art seem useless while kindling one’s longing to escape; on a natural disaster made worse by despotism; reflections on the hidden state; mercenaries.
Perspectives on cancel culture: much ado about nothing or the coddling of the Czech mind? Also: Children’s literature without children – why the ‘child reader’ does not exist.
A Turkish literary institution turns 90: reflections on Varlık’s evolution and achievements, as well as notable omissions. Also: On the country’s loss of intellectual moorings under Erdoğan and why culture depends on ‘the suspension of power’.
What the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam means for water supplies, agriculture and industry in south-east Ukraine. Also: Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh; and a profile of imprisoned Russian oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
New writing by Czech Roma authors: different takes on the story-telling tradition; memories of growing up as a Roma after ’89; mainstreaming Roma writing and the decline of the Romani language.
How to stop disillusioned health professionals leaving the sector; and why health budgets must shift from treatment to prevention. Also: a black book of Assad; and America’s comeback as global good guy.
Turing off the tap for the Church of England: why state support for English Anglicanism belongs to the past. Also: Kenan Malik on the flaws of critical race theory.