Protesters in Belarus have been flooding the streets of Minsk for nine weeks straight, marching against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. These demonstrators demand his resignation and freedom for political prisoners following the August 9 elections, which, according to the official count, have been won by Alexander Lukashenko with a seemingly implausible 80% … Read more
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly independent republics seemed to be fertile ground for democracy. Today, only three former Soviet republics have successfully democratized—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—while many have remained saddled with autocratic regimes reminiscent of Soviet-style dictators. Haphazard liberalization of the fledgling republics led to widespread corruption and the … Read more
As the novel coronavirus spread through Europe, heads of government quickly began to close their national borders in an attempt to reduce movement and the spread of the disease. These hasty measures threatened one of the fundamental tenets of the European Union: the freedom of movement, and the Schengen Zone, which guarantees visa and border-free … Read more
Strained US-NATO relations and fears of further Russian expansion have motivated the European Union to aggressively increase defense and security cooperation in the last five years. However, there is little indication that French President Macron’s call for a “true European army” will be realized in the foreseeable future. Rapidly Increasing European Defense Capabilities American leadership … Read more
Some onlookers have drawn parallels between Britain’s new Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Both are left wing (albeit to varying degrees), and both have white hair. Both look a bit scruffy, and both grace the iPhone screens of Buzzfeed and Huffington Post readers regularly. But the similarities end there. The rise … Read more
Stormont stares down from atop its East Belfast perch upon a city whose industrial landscape contrasts sharply with the imperial, white colonnades of the devolved center of government. However, its imposing structure is a façade. The “House on the Hill” is in fact a house of cards, its perch precariously balanced upon a forced coalition … Read more
In perhaps the most visible feature of participatory democracy—the electoral process—change seems afoot. The goalposts of elections—the nature of their discourse, build-up, and outcomes—appear to be shifting, no more so than in the United States and the United Kingdom. The recent popularity of outsider candidates Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn respectively in the two nations … Read more
This is not the first time in history that Europe has been forced to come to grips with an urgent and overwhelming refugee crisis. Nor, as it turns out, is it the first time that refugees have been slandered with xenophobic hate speech and broadly stroked suspicion. In 1933, T.S. Eliot proclaimed to an audience … Read more
In early July, in Germany’s historic Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, academics and analysts from a wide range of disciplines gathered to participate in a research symposium on climate engineering. The fledgling field—only some of those present at the conference even consider climate engineering to be their primary research interest—has steadily been picking up … Read more
Tomorrow, voters in the United Kingdom will go to the polls to choose the direction of their next government. For the last several months they have been bombarded with political advertisements and 24/7 electoral news coverage, not to mention a vast array of signs, flags, and posters. For party leaders this is the culmination of … Read more