Articles

New transnational movements like Volt Europa can bring much-needed disruption to a system of old nation-state politics. It is not too late to turn things around for this continent.

The Katowice UN Climate Change Conference will take place in Katowice from the 3rd till the 14th of December 2018. 

The Russian World assumes that there is a distinctive Russian civilisation with its own territory to be governed by a single political and religious authority. However a reunificaton of the 'divided world' between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine is more propaganda than reality.  

During the past seven decades, transatlantic ties have been tested repeatedly. They have included economic conflicts, competition for markets, dealing with armed conflicts and cultural clashes. Europe and the US share both the challenges and the consequences for either success or failure which makes the transatlantic relationship more important now than it has been since the end of the Cold War.

In June 2018, the transformation of the political system from a parliamentary to a presidential one has become effective. The Turkish Parliament has been weakened and the political hierarchy with the President as the highest standing has been further strenghtened. But suspending accession talks would also suspend European support for more democracy.

Şebnem Fincancı was rewarded for her lifelong engagement for investigating on torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The manual she published in 1999 has been accpeted as official document by the United Nations and serves as handbook and guideline for doctors, lawyers and judges. However torture remains a reality in Turkish prisons. And not only.

The tectonic plaques of the eurozone are again on the move. The rise of populism and the extreme-right is not the beginning but rather the result of a long process of political flaws and errors. The Italian national budget proposal oposes the Italian government and the European Commission. But it is not about pro or contra the EU but about delayed and short-term reforms in the fiscal governance. 

US Congress and the Trump administration are still wrangling over how to deal with Saudi Arabia in response to the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Europe should take a principled stance.

The “realist” discourse about nuclear weapons promises that weapons prevent war. A feminist analysis helps to understand how nuclear weapons are a patriarchal tool, benefitting the patriarchy.