France: Locked down and forsaken Comment Coronavirus measures have made the usually bustling city of Paris a ghost town. Bars, cafes, restaurants and everything else have been closed down, with towers of empty chairs piled up behind the windows. Dr. Jens Althoff
Is Data the New Oil? Examining the Promise of Data for Development Commentary The promise of measuring everything and everyone with the help of digital technologies has triggered the interest of the development community as well as governments across the Global South. But in countries like Kenya, the excessive collection or personal data creates risks of monetary and political exploitation, not to mention compounding existing discrimination, without improving the delivery of aid and public services. Nanjala Nyabola
The coronavirus crisis: Where the Trump administration went wrong Background The US government’s crisis management has been a disaster so far. Donald Trump has three basic tendencies, which have served him well in the past as a populist, but which will cause severe damage to the US population in this situation and may usher in the end of his political career. Bastian Hermisson
The Future is now! On the relevance of the Beijing Platform for Action today Comment Equal power for women, a life with less violence and more justice are the goals that were set 25 years ago at the 4th World Conference on Women and in the Beijing Platform for Action. So far, gender equality has never been achieved. Barbara Unmüßig
A political map of Slovakia two years after the tragedy of the murder of Ján and Martina Background February 2020 will be written into the modern political history of Slovakia as a month with a great turning point which combined in a special way two dramatic themes in the internal political development of the country. Grigorij Mesežnikov
COVID-19: Tips for a Saner Digital Diet in These Viral Times Article A virus riding on another virus. That is how the ‘infodemic’ is raging in online spaces around the outbreak of the novel coronavirus called COVID-19, which has been on just about everyone’s radar since late January 2020. As grave as the quest to manage the respiratory disease and cure those ill with it is not only the challenge of using facts versus fear - but how to create and keep avenues of information that withstand the unrelenting drip of skewed, confused, partially true to totally false information, to racist and prejudiced views, or a cocktail of these. Johanna Son
War in Syria: The horror of Idlib Article The recent escalation of violence in Idlib is also a result of the increasing tensions between Turkey and Russia. The victims are those in Idlib, caught up in a hopeless situation amid a huge spectrum of differing interests. Dr. Bente Scheller
Slovak 2020 General Elections: Analyses of Parliament Scenario(s) Article Slovak political landscape is exceptionally fragmented ahead of February 29 general elections. One of the last opinion polls published before the election polls moratorium foresees eight parties to be represented in the parliament. However, conceivable scenarios include 6 to 12 parties possibly entering the parliament. This pre-election analysis was published by EuroPolicy in cooperation with the Prague office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Zuzana Gabrižová
Goodbye, UK! Taking stock Blog After countless hours of negotiations, frustration and the United Kingdom officially withdrew from the European Union after 47 years of membership bearing the words “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations. 31 January 2020”. Nina Locher
Algorithmic Injustice: Mend it or End it Comment Computers are often thought of as neutral technology. However, it becomes alarmingly clear that machines learn from training data made up of outdated social norms, values and attitudes towards race and gender. This can have insidious consequences. Noel Sharkey