debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Before we delve into the reasons for the crisis of the state it is necessary to clarify the meaning of ‘nation’. Nation has a cultural connotation and its distant origins are historically much older than state: it is still recognisable as a nation even when its borders have not been marked out and, at least [...]
America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity, and others view it in much the same light. But, while we can all think of examples of Americans who rose to the top on their own, what really matters are the statistics: to what extent do an individual’s life chances depend on the [...]
Great significance – probably too much – has been attached to a possible breakup of the eurozone. Many believe that such a breakup – if, say, Greece abandoned the euro and reintroduced the drachma – would constitute a political failure that would ultimately threaten Europe’s stability. Speaking before the Bundestag last October, German Chancellor Angela [...]
One of our era’s foundational myths is that globalization has condemned the nation-state to irrelevance. The revolution in transport and communications, we hear, has vaporized borders and shrunk the world. New modes of governance, ranging from transnational networks of regulators to international civil-society organizations to multilateral institutions, are transcending and supplanting national lawmakers. Domestic policymakers, [...]
In Britain there is no question that the mainstream political parties and a growing minority of the people no longer relate to one another, but while the political classes talk of reconnecting people with politics there is little understanding that it is politics that needs to reconnect with people. The very existence of ‘political classes’ [...]
“Europe needs immigrants” – former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema stated bluntly in the 10th May Le Monde – in direct dispute with “the two most active European pyromaniacs”, Berlusconi and Sarkozy. Calculation to support that postulate could hardly be simpler: There are today 333 million Europeans, but with the present (and still falling) average [...]
Solidarity is essential to democratic societies; otherwise, they fall apart. They cannot function beyond a certain level of mutual distrust or a sense on the part of some members that other members have abandoned them. Many view the development of an individualistic outlook as the greatest threat to solidarity nowadays. But this is closely linked [...]
To solve our current problems realist and practical policies are required, but they must also always retain a social-democratic ethos. The European election of July 2009 showed an interesting paradox: despite the fact that, according to data from the European Election Study (1986-2004), 58 per cent of European citizens position themselves as centre-left or left, [...]
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