Democratic Crisis
The turmoil the Italian political landscape has been traversing of late is particularly worrisome. Not so much for the political instability but more for the political blindness that it reveals and which risks destroying the fundamentals of the very idea of democracy itself. While the current government continues the politics of austerity imposed by the European Union, the reform of the political architecture is still missing.
Read moreCitizens are demanding more direct democracy, something that the political parties are resisting. However the economic crisis has changed everything and made the status quo no longer sustainable. In its wake, a number of new movements are challenging how political decisions are being made.
Read moreThese four debates are gateways to penetrating the transnational complexity of the European environmental debate, interconnecting national public spaces where debates on the fundamental issues for our future are still being carried out in an overly compartmentalised fashion.
Read moreThe success of the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of the French Presidential election, and the success of similar nationalistic parties in other European countries, has left many wondering how the greens and progressive forces should respond to this perceived threat to European values. Edouard Gaudot suggests that the answer lies in offering hope to those who feel rejected by the political and economic system.
Read moreThe financial crisis has lasted for five years and there is no end in sight. The excessive public and private debt and the overleveraged banks are a heavy burden on the real economy. They also worsen the unemployment problem by preventing stimulus and fuelling deflation. The debt problem must therefore be treated as a priority.
Read moreThis brave critique of the ‘new German nationalism’ is welcome. But there are two mains weaknesses in the position of Habermas and his colleagues: the crisis does not allow us to re-start from the beginnings of the European Union. What the European democracy needs is a real tax revolution, a kind of New Deal or a Marshall Plan, something like a social movement and maybe a step aside from the structures that were designed to exclude it.
Read moreIn the short term, the crisis requires all our attention. But the political actors should not forget the structural defects of the monetary union.
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