debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
As the economic slump across the European Union deepens and social distress grows, a terrible sense of political impotence grips those desperate to see recovery. There is a blunt reality to be faced: if progressives cannot respond to the crisis in the Euro-area with an effective alternative, there is a growing danger not only that the [...]
What is the point of Europe? The threat of an explosive disintegration of the eurozone – and with it of the European Union – is receding. But the confused outcome of Italy’s recent parliamentary election, with an upper house dominated by a party that campaigned on an anti-EU platform and a pro-European majority in the [...]
The overwhelming majority of Italian voters resoundingly rejected the politics and economics of austerity. This judgment by Italian voters is unlikely to meet with the approval of Troika of the eurozone. On the contrary, already we have calls for the new government to reject the popular will and continue those anti-social policies that Signore Monti [...]
Following the weekend’s elections, Italy now appears to be facing a hung parliament, with a centre-left majority in the Chamber of Deputies and a fragmented Senate. The real winner writes Valentino Larcinese, has been Beppe Grillo’s 5 Star Movement, which gained 25 per cent of the vote. He argues that the movement’s success illustrates that austerity is now [...]
Keep calm and accept the basic facts: No matter how much qualitatively better than Berlusconi, no left-wing coalition could ever achieve large majorities and broad popular support after having been part of a Grand Coalition implementing policies such as those contained in Monti’s austerity packages. To be sure, Berlusconi’s coalition was also bitterly defeated: Compared [...]
Angela Merkel’s European policy has so far not succeeded in solving the Eurozone crisis and has been widely criticised across Europe. If you become the next German Chancellor, what would you change in the German European policy approach? Would you change the current austerity policy that is widely viewed as the main reason for Europe’s [...]
Two previous recent postings explored the parameters and the prerequisites for a progressive second presidential term for Barack Obama. Each of those postings triggered three broad responses from a largely skeptical audience. One broad response, from conservative or libertarian bloggers, was that since progressive answers to America’s contemporary ills could only make those ills worse, the hope [...]
This morning I was on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe to discuss the upcoming German election and the state of the German and European economies. This was a different format from the usual ‘presenter interviews expert’ and I quite enjoyed this, also because there was time to have a discussion and get more out than just [...]
2013 is now upon us and when it comes to German politics it is already clear what the climax of this year will be: the federal elections in September. As 2012 drew to a close, the election campaign was already well under way. But rather than focusing on the policies needed to overcome the many [...]
After a hard-fought election campaign, costing well in excess of $2 billion, it seems to many observers that not much has changed in American politics: Barack Obama is still President, the Republicans still control the House of Representatives, and the Democrats still have a majority in the Senate. With America facing a “fiscal cliff” – [...]
And so, amidst much fireworks and fanfare, the curtain closes on yet another US presidential election. After well over a year of campaigning and an estimated $6 billion spent (including by SuperPacs), we ended up with the same president and roughly the same Democratic-controlled Senate and GOP-controlled House. Status quo prevailed. It looks like we can look [...]
When the applause among Democrats and recriminations among Republicans begin to quiet down — probably within the next few days — the President will have to make some big decisions. The biggest is on the economy. His victory and the pending “fiscal cliff” give him an opportunity to recast the economic debate. Our central challenge, he [...]
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