For much of the past decade, radical right-wing populism in the Netherlands has largely been associated with Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV). Following in the footsteps of the late Pim Fortuyn, Wilders established himself as one of Western Europe’s most outspoken promoters of anti-Islamic rhetoric, whose often...
A few days ago, thousands of demonstrators gathered in a number of German cities, ignoring government restrictions and guidelines regarding social distancing or the wearing of protective face masks. Among the demonstrators were many ordinary citizens, but also extremists from both sides of the political spectrum, conspiracy theorists, and members...
Until recently, globalization was heralded as the major engine of global economic growth and, particularly, of the dramatic reduction in inter-country inequality. Globalization was largely seen as a win-win mechanism for both developed and developing countries. Central to globalization has been the expansion of global value chains — the breaking up...
A few days ago, President Donald Trump came out and announced that the United States was suspending its funding of the World Health Organization (WHO). Among the main reasons for his decision, Trump cited the WHO’s “mismanaging” of the spread of the epidemic and its heavy pro-China slant. The United...
In no country in Europe has COVID-19 claimed more victims than in Italy. Similarly, nowhere in Europe has the radical populist right benefitted more from the pandemic than in Italy. At the beginning of April, polls had Italy’s two major radical right-wing populist parties — Matteo Salvini’s Lega (League) and...
In recent days, Donald Trump’s administration finally appears to have come to grips with the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis threatening to lay waste to the country and, with it, his presidency. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people cover their faces, using any means...
There once was a state called the Soviet Union. It included places as wide-ranging as Lithuania (now part of the European Union), Kazakhstan (part of Europe as far as UEFA is concerned) and Kyrgyzstan (definitely not part of Europe). It was an intricate part of what was known as the...
Donald Trump was elected in 2016 on his promise to “Make America Great Again.” Four years later, he presides over a country that would be the laughing stock of the world if the situation were not so dire. The greatest country in the world apparently cannot provide its citizens with...
The triumph of Nazism in the years following the election of 1933 that brought Adolf Hitler to power represents arguably the greatest human catastrophe of the 20th century — a century rich in human catastrophes. Until today, historians, social scientists and writers, from Primo Levy to Jonathan Littell, the author...
We live in an age of accelerated individualization — or so sociologists and social philosophers like Ulrich Beck have told us for decades. We have accepted it, even if we did not necessarily like it. The citizens of the former Soviet empire were among the first to take note. In East...
