Articles about:
Next Democracy
On June 4, 1989 – on the same day that students died in Tiananmen Square – parliamentary elections were held in Poland. For the first time, real opposition candidates were allowed to participate. The resulting opposition-led government opened the door to historical changes in the country and beyond. The 2004...
Only with direct democracy as a complement to representative democracy the government power will really come from the people. Direct democracy strengthens representative democracy: it makes it more representative. Direct-democratic procedures encourage public discourse and thus also prevent populism. In an election we put our trust in democracy. This trust...
In 1989, Hungarians saw democracy as an enormous hope for an open and free society. 30 years on, Hungary is an officially ‘illiberal state’ based on nationalism, corruption. The opposition is fragmented, the society is divided along political, economic and geographic lines. The progressive left doesn’t have answers. The symbolic...
In his recent book, “Alarums and Excursions – improvising politics on the European stage”, Dutch historian Luuk van Middelaar analyses how a decade of crises – from the financial chaos of the euro and Greek sovereign debt, to the conflicts with Russia over Ukraine, unprecedented levels of refugees from across...
Bringing all forces of society together – individuals as well as groups – is the best way to deal with those who want to create a battleground between economic and financial interests or between ideologies of closure and exclusion. Who owns Europe ? The first question we must ask ourselves...
Whether a government or private enterprise should directly own and control an activity is at the heart of politics – that’s why the question ‘who owns Europe’ is an incredibly important one. But a lack of consistent, long-term data on public and private ownership makes it virtually impossible for citizens...
Recent elections and the rise of populism show that the centre-left is losing ground. A ‘politics of ownership’, which gives power to citizens by involving them in the economy and in the affairs of the state, may provide a means of answering this difficult set of challenges. European Social Democracy...
A European Market for Values may be a viable option to connect individuals, firms and local communities in Europe. It would make it possible to share best practices and, more in general, choose and foster moral, organisational and cultural values. In the current juncture, the European project can only...
Since the 1980s, two troublesome trends have affected the world economy. The first is the fairly widespread increase in income inequality. This includes the two major economies of the world (the United States and China) but also several European countries, not to say the former communist countries, which have experienced...
In the early 20th century, many thought leaders of Social Democracy were convinced that “new social risks” – such as demographic change – would shape the social conflict of the future. Instead of the conflict between capital and labour, the social question would increasingly play out in conflict and problems...