Politics

Tom Vasseur dissects the strategies and methods of the increasingly popular radical right, and suggests the means to an effective Green counterstrategy.

Despite high hopes for Croatia’s multifarious small parties, and disappointment for the centre-left Social Democrats, Croatia’s September elections have revealed a relative return to stability with the two main established parties retaining most of the seats and leverage in the parliament.

US Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein often cites examples from Europe as a model for the US to try to imitate. From domestic health care to foreign affairs, there seems to be no issue that Europe isn’t doing better than the US on. Yet could she be missing a much more useful example from Europe: how to actually do Green politics?

After a promising start, how did everything go so wrong in Greece for Syriza, with redoubled austerity imposed to the detriment of the Greek people and their environment? Yannis Paraskevopoulos analyses some key mistakes Syriza made and the role of the Greek Greens in the process. First of a two-part series.

After a promising start, how did everything go so wrong in Greece for Syriza, with redoubled austerity imposed to the detriment of the Greek people and their environment? Yannis Paraskevopoulos analyses some key mistakes Syriza made and the role of the Greek Greens in the process. Second in a two-part series.

The Brexit vote has been interpreted by some as demonstrating a desire to take back sovereignty and control. Yet defining exactly what this missing sovereignty amounts to, and what its place in the world of today is, seems to persistently elude us.

When Croatia’s first Green Party (OraH) emerged, many held high hopes that it could consolidate its position as a Green alternative in Croatia’s political landscape. However, it has struggled to overcome the obstacles it has faced, as well as to resolve its own internal flaws.

Brexit has been a shock. It wasn’t the European Union that smashed the trade unions, depleted Britain’s social housing stock and then went on an orgy of privatisation, but Brexit has handed complete, unregulated control over to those who did, and the potential consequences reach far beyond Britain’s borders.

Unlike many other post-communist countries which experienced fragmentation and instability, Croatia’s party system has retained its basic stability for a long time. Yet a significant section of the electorate has sought an alternative – and as a result a succession of new political actors have emerged, with varying degrees of success. But how are they likely to fare at the country’s September parliamentary elections?

It’s difficult to point to a time in recent years when European integration was not under pressure. Yet presently, the problem-solving capacity of the European Union definitely seems to be exhausted, for two crises simultaneously challenge it: the Euro crisis and the Schengen crisis. But the calculation that two crises cause double trouble might be […]