Europe
Europe
Fair Observer provides insightful and informed analysis about important European issues, events and trends.
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By Eddy FougierThe history, agenda, and future of ‘Sarkozysm’. Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 presidential campaign has often been depicted as extremist by mainstream US media. He embodies a turning point in French right-wing history. He represents the French version of what was called the “New Right” in the US during the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s and in the UK during the Thatcher years. However, unlike Thatcherism or Reaganism, Sarkozysm is not a political ideology based on a set of ideas. Rather, it is a new way of being involved in French politics through a new political language and a new political strategy whose aim is to gain power, to retain or to regain public approval,...
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By John BrutonAnalysis on Francois Hollande’s election as French president and what this means for austerity in France, Greece, and Europe. The result of the French Presidential election was no great surprise in a way. In fact, when one considers that most of the first round competitors had endorsed Hollande, outgoing President Sarkozy did well to get 48% as against the mere 27% he received in the first round. The centrist Bayrou, and the Left Front candidate Mélenchon, had both explicitly endorsed Hollande, and the National Front candidate Marine le Pen, most of whose supporters were otherwise trending in Sarkozy’s favour, said she was going to vote for nobody. Voter distribution The...
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By Emma LeyAs we approach the end of the Queen’s 60th year on the throne, we can reflect on what she has brought to Britain. There is an unquantifiable part of British identity that resides in the Queen. Although some are weary of displaying too much patriotism, when the Jubilee celebrations kick off next month most of us will partake. There is a niche group of ardent royalists, the kind who clutter up their kitchens with royal memorabilia, who will revel in it. There are also some republicans who will conscientiously (and conspicuously) opt out. The rest will just enjoy the day off and pray for it to be a hot one. Our thoughts won’t stray much further than that. We spend little time...
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Kinetura designs adaptable lamps and building applications that react to the surrounding light. Designing lamps is like conceiving architecture on a micro scale. A light source with its fixture, and the natural light surrounding a building are obviously related. The design and architecture of both buildings and lamp fixtures need to maximize the utility and aesthetics of light Interactive transformable lighting Since 2005 we have been trying to connect artificial light more intimately with its surrounding architecture without losing the light’s functionality. We made the first prototypes of flexible transformable lamps. Such lamps regulate the intensity of their light by gradually...
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Kinetura designs adaptable lamps and building applications that react to the surrounding light. Designing lamps is like conceiving architecture on a micro scale. A light source with its fixture, and the natural light surrounding a building are obviously related. The design and architecture of both buildings and lamp fixtures need to maximize the utility and aesthetics of light Interactive transformable lighting Since 2005 we have been trying to connect artificial light more intimately with its surrounding architecture without losing the light’s functionality. We made the first prototypes of flexible transformable lamps. Such lamps regulate the intensity of their light by gradually...
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Kinetura designs adaptable lamps and building applications that react to the surrounding light. Designing lamps is like conceiving architecture on a micro scale. A light source with its fixture, and the natural light surrounding a building are obviously related. The design and architecture of both buildings and lamp fixtures need to maximize the utility and aesthetics of light Interactive transformable lighting Since 2005 we have been trying to connect artificial light more intimately with its surrounding architecture without losing the light’s functionality. We made the first prototypes of flexible transformable lamps. Such lamps regulate the intensity of their light by gradually...
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The Europe (to the power of) n project is an international collaborative art project founded to explore the possibilities of a European identity without transforming it into a substantial and exclusive one. Answering the questions of where and what Europe actually is, or what it could one day become, is impossible. As we come closer to Europe in a geographical sense, a series of different configurations overlap: the European Union, the Council of Europe, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Club Association, to name but a few of the most prominent associations. Also, the eastern border has continually shifted during the course of the centuries: in ancient Roman times ‘Europe...
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The Europe (to the power of) n project is an international collaborative art project founded to explore the possibilities of a European identity without transforming it into a substantial and exclusive one. Answering the questions of where and what Europe actually is, or what it could one day become, is impossible. As we come closer to Europe in a geographical sense, a series of different configurations overlap: the European Union, the Council of Europe, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Club Association, to name but a few of the most prominent associations. Also, the eastern border has continually shifted during the course of the centuries: in ancient Roman times ‘Europe...
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Why Occupy Germany has not become an important political factor. “Is capitalism eating its children?” asked a newspaper. “Wall street first, now all over the world” read another headline. When Occupy Hamburg activists stormed Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank AG’s speech in November last year to protest against the largest German bank’s economic power, and when activists chained themselves to stairs in an Apple store to protest Apple’s business with Foxconn, the media echo was huge. Six months later, however, Occupy events in Germany are smiled upon and even seen as nostalgic while protests in the US and other countries still hold public and...
