debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The Netherlands remains divided on the future of European integration between those wanting a ‘German’, federal Europe and those in favour of an enlarged, but looser union. A few weeks ago, I participated in the German-Dutch Forum in Berlin, capital of Europe. The topic was the future of European integration. The forum is not world [...]
The new Dutch coalition government combines austerity politics with a ‘fair redistribution of pain’ This week, the new Dutch Government was installed, in the presence of Queen Beatrix. The two-party cabinet will consist of the conservative-liberal VVD and centre-left Labour Party (PvdA) – the two winning parties of the September 12th national parliamentary elections. VVD-leader Mark [...]
The Dutch political laboratory is alive and kicking. Populist actors may have taken past headlines but the election marked the dramatic return of the pro-European centre ground. ‘The political centre is back’, ‘Again the purple coalition of red and blue’, ‘Voters want cooperation. Not polarisation’: these are some of the headlines of Dutch newspapers the [...]
We have entered an age of fear. Insecurity is once again an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Insecurity born of terrorism, but also, and more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, [...]
Yet again historians, sociologists, cultural studies academics, and political scientists betray their academic duty. Previously they’ve shied away, in numbers far too big for comfort, from the problems of immigration, integration and Islam. They became traitors to their own expert knowledge on human society by failing to, in a timely and loud fashion, single out [...]
And again, historians, sociologists, cultural studies academics and political scientists betray their academic duty. Earlier, they shied away from the problems of immigration, integration and Islam en masse. They turned traitor to their expert knowledge of human society by failing to signal the shadow sides of multicultural integration in a loud and timely manner. They [...]
What to do when pyromaniacs are extinguishing a house on fire? A house that has been set on fire by themselves. Do you leave them in peace or do you call them to order? That is one of the painful dilemmas of the contemporary eurocrisis. The metaphor of the EU as a burning house derives [...]
In the Netherlands and Germany the left is propping up governing coalitions on the right in support of the eurozone. But are they getting a good deal in light of ongoing right-wing austerity politics? Pinned down by the eurocrisis, both the social democratic PvdA in the Netherlands and the SPD in Germany are caught in [...]
The Finns claim Greek islands, the Poles denounce the authoritarian dictate of France and Germany, the Dutch criticize the fiscal ethics of the Greek, and the Germans are agitated about the French pension age. This is asking for big trouble. The rescue operation for the euro pits national populations against each other instead of reconciling [...]
There are two tales about party politics. In the first, political parties are moribund, if not on their last legs. Parties are said to have been in crisis or decline for decades and are believed to have lost virtually all their functions to the courts, the bureaucracy, the media, or powerful social organizations. Parties supposedly [...]
When and why has the left become so culturalist, stressing essentialist notions of identity and the value of frozen group cultures? How come that the left, which was always in the egalitarian-equality business, have become so obsessed with difference, diversity and cultural inequalities? How is it possible that progressive liberals, who are ethical individualists, turn [...]
Memos to the Left for the Progressive Governance Conference in Oslo, 12-13 May ‘’The 21st is the century of empowered citizens. The last thing they want is to be told what to do. If modern social democrats fall prey to the conservative politics of paternalism, upset citizens will extract their revenge at the voting booth. [...]
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