Articles about:
State of the Left
The post-communist transition is often viewed as an economic success story in the West – even though with difficulties. Many in the East, however, have painful memories. In a number of countries, authoritarian nationalist governments have come to power, promising to right the perceived wrongs of the transition period. Thirty...
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...
Paul Mason argues that the Left needs to draw inspiration from the 1930s ‘popular front’ idea and increase their prospects of gaining power by forming red-red-green alliances. To fight the resurgent right effectively, we need to understand what is driving it. For me it is not about economic performance...
Measures in favour of more gender equality, adopted during the last ten months, have contributed to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ electoral success. But the issue is not off the table in Spain for years to come. This was illustrated by the image of the all-male candidates and councillors at the...
They did it in Spain, too. VOX, the far-right party, enters the Spanish parliament after the recent national elections. Although their vote share (10%) is not that big, compared to their brother parties in Europe (Poland 38%, France 34%, Austria 26%, Denmark 21%, Italy 17%), and the party did not...
The resounding victory of the Slovak environmental activist and public interest lawyer Zuzana Čaputova in the Slovak presidential elections shows that it is possible to beat the rising tide of xenophobic policies in post-soviet countries. It almost looks like a story too nice to be true. For some time already,...
Progressives have been tormented by a series of political paroxysms of the past years. When looking for who to blame, they sometimes point to Millennials. Our youngest voters – broadly defined as those born between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s – have been accused of lacking political commitment. Even...
Social Democracy, as a family of political parties, is in the midst of an existential crisis. Its unity, its long-term future and the status of its members on the political scene are under threat. To remain true to the cause that saw them emerge in response to the industrial capitalism...
The political Left finds its source in two struggles: one against the exploitation of human labour, the other for the emancipation of disenfranchised groups and individuals. The first is identified as the socialist Left, the second as the liberal Left. The first emphasises economic policies of redistribution and the regulation...
Social Democracy in Europe is ailing. The reasons are well-known and manifold: the disappearance of traditional industrial jobs and associated voter groups, robotics, the shrinking role of trade unions and the general fact that an increasingly divided society can no longer be represented by a single party. A retreat into...