The pandemic has highlighted the deficiencies of economic deregulation and market liberalisation and a new policy-making paradigm is emerging.
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Brexit: why does Northern Ireland matter so much?
So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else.
The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy
In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.
Britain heads further down the Brexit rabbit-hole
Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button.
Politics
Biden’s trap
Joe Biden’s administration must deliver on sweeping new federal programmes while placating moderates who oppose radical policy measures.
Can Xi Jinping defeat three stubborn modern inequalities?
Branko Milanovic argues that ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is replicating United States inequalities.
Brexit: why does Northern Ireland matter so much?
So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else.
The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win
In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.
Economy
A new global economic consensus
The pandemic has highlighted the deficiencies of economic deregulation and market liberalisation and a new policy-making paradigm is emerging.
The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy
In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.
Trade unions take on platform companies in the struggle for decent work
On World Day of Decent Work, the European Trade Union Confederation puts the spotlight on justice for platform workers.
‘Recovery and resilience’—how that looks from the east
EU funding of bricks-and-mortar projects in central and eastern Europe hasn’t addressed its human-resources crisis. Could the Recovery and Resilience Facility be a turning point?
Society
Making lifelong learning a reality in the EU
There was a time when education and training were for life. But amid today’s social transformations only lifelong learning will do.
Why a new University of Labour?
As workers’ representatives face the challenges of digitalised work and fragmented workforces, a ‘University of Labour’ in Germany offers support.
Coming second in the game of life
‘We don’t want to decapitate the tall poppies,’ said Boris Johnson in July. Yet for Kate Pickett his ‘levelling up’ ambitions will necessitate flattening the whole social gradient.
Rescuing the concept of precarity
The cause of the precariat isn’t helped by fuzzy thinking about who and what it is.
Ecology
After the Bundestag elections—a change of climate?
Angela Merkel was labelled the ‘climate chancellor’. But powerful coal and car industries limited her achievements. Will her successor break free?
The myth of green capitalism
Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.
Ecosocialism: more than another Third Way
The old left was too slow to see beyond materialist consumption. But an ecosocialism can underpin coalitions with the green parties which filled the gap.
To stop global heating, tax multinationals better
The rapid, radical decarbonisation needed to save the planet will cost a lot. Taxing multinationals and the wealthy properly can help pay for it.
