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Politics


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher. We use the values of freedom, sustainability and equality as the foundation on which we examine society’s most pressing challenges. We are committed to publishing cutting-edge thinking and new ideas from the most thought-provoking people. This archive page brings together Social Europe articles on political issues.

Hungary’s path puts everyone’s rights in danger

Graeme Reid 6th October 2021

The ostensible assault on LGBT+ rights in Hungary, Poland and Russia has a very big target—anyone who signs up to universal norms.

Intellectual monopoly capitalism—challenge of our times

Cédric Durand and Cecilia Rikap 5th October 2021

Unregulated capitalism has always tended to monopoly. But Big Tech represents a challenge antitrust tools can’t tame.

Britain heads further down the Brexit rabbit-hole

Paul Mason 4th October 2021

Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button.

Most of Europe fails to guarantee access to abortion care

Tatev Hovhannisyan 1st October 2021

A comprehensive atlas of abortion policies across Europe shows that women’s experience ‘largely depends on their postcode’.

How Olaf Scholz won Germany

Dalia Marin 29th September 2021

In a few months, Scholz reversed the social democrats’ decade-long decline, running on a message of dignity and respect for all workers.

Gender, ministers and political appointments

Bonnie Field 24th September 2021

Women fronting governments sends an important signal. Having them in the backrooms of power is however also crucial.

It’s about the sausage

Paul Emtsev 24th September 2021

Ahead of the Bundestag elections on Sunday, just how did Olaf Scholz become the top candidate to be chancellor?

Finding solid ground: gateways to municipal socialism

Carl Rowlands 20th September 2021

From interwar Vienna through 1980s London and beyond, municipalities are the crucible of compelling socialist initiatives.

Despite all the international attention, Afghan refugees are not welcome

Rashmee Roshan Lall 17th September 2021

Nobody really knows what prospects await Afghan refugees when countries have yet to see human rights as rights for all humans.

Catalonia: a fraught dialogue begins

Tom Canetti 17th September 2021

The leaders of the Spanish government and that in Catalonia have met across the table—but the gap between them remains large.

How democracy can win again

Gergely Karácsony 15th September 2021

Democratic erosion in Hungary is symptomatic of structural problems afflicting most democracies, even threatening the future of civilisation.

Young people and planetary justice

Guido Montani 14th September 2021

Ultimately, resolving the collective-action dilemma of preserving a liveable planet will require a UN ‘constitution of the Earth’.

On the EU’s Belarus border, security and fundamental rights collide

Weronika Grzebalska 13th September 2021

Weronika Grzebalska argues that Lukashenka’s thrashing around in eastern Europe forces progressives to offer a positive alternative on security.

All together now: facing the global challenges of our time

Lauren Schwartz 9th September 2021

Recent headlines make it seem an inauspicious moment for a progressive transatlantic political alliance—yet this couldn’t be more urgent.

Left-wing austerity during international crises—it’s the financial markets, stupid!

Damian Raess 6th September 2021

Left governments adopted more conservative fiscal policies than right governments in recent crises. They have dire electoral consequences.

The consequences of neoliberal capitalism in eastern Europe

Sheri Berman 6th September 2021

Sheri Berman argues that post-communist left embrace of economic as well as political liberalism allowed populists to target the latter.

Progressive mayors in central and eastern Europe challenge the status quo

Veronica Anghel 3rd September 2021

Major cities in central and eastern Europe have elected liberal mayors. But socially conservative attitudes are unlikely to shift at national level.

Turkey and the Istanbul convention—fighting to keep it alive

Selin Sayek-Böke 3rd September 2021

The Turkish president no doubt thinks his decision to de-ratify the Istanbul convention is irreversible. The main opposition party disagrees.

Stefan Löfven—welding progressives together and keeping the far right at bay

Lisa Pelling 1st September 2021

The Swedish social-democrat leader, shortly to step down, didn’t buckle under pressure despite a slender parliamentary hold.

How Big Tech money skews the European playing-field

Margarida Silva and Max Bank 1st September 2021

Record spending by technology companies lobbying the EU represents a democratic problem.

Apocalypse or co-operation?

Jayati Ghosh 12th August 2021

The perfect storm of Covid-19 and climate change, and resulting economic damage, will likely trigger much more social and political instability.

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