Veronica Anghel
It is three years since the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic, on 11 March 2020. Veronica Anghel conducts a retrospective analysis of the impact of the health crisis, from all social scientific perspectives. Did political science rise to the challenge? Read more
Jaap Hoeksma
Jaap Hoeksma argues that a European Court of Justice ruling in 2022 legally overcame the EU’s longstanding democratic deficit. The EU should now draw on the implications of that ruling, and declare itself an original model of democracy Read more
Laura Luciani
As the liberal norms promoted by the EU are fiercely contested, human rights groups in the South Caucasus face an insecure environment. Some propose alternatives to human rights promotion that challenge both the EU’s development paradigms and competing authoritarian agendas. Laura Luciani argues that we should take them seriously Read more
Diogo Vieira Ferreira
European (transnational) political parties have suffered from a lack of political influence in the European Union. Diogo Vieira Ferreira argues that dealing with the EU’s democratic deficit requires higher political (party) competition at the EU level. The direct suffrage of MEPs via transnational lists is an embryonic but required step Read more
Niels Keijzer
The EU is insistent on combatting ‘root causes’ of migration. Yet this has led it to overlook other reasons for human mobility. Niels Keijzer and Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood argue these include the threatened livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf of Guinea Read more
Christina Isabel Zuber
When it comes to migration, the past wields considerable power over the present in Germany. Christina Zuber argues that ‘ideational legacies’ mean outdated policies are upheld against pressing needs for change. Ideas dominant at historical junctures become tied to national identity. Yet, there is a way to overcome them Read more
Joris Frese
People with migrant backgrounds are underrepresented in party politics. Yet, writes Joris Frese, most parties in Germany do not have a deliberate strategy for the integration of migrants, and few party chapters aspire to attract them Read more
Thijs De Cuyper
Faced with contemporary geoeconomic challenges, the European Union and its member states are experiencing an identity crisis. Thijs De Cuyper argues that the EU shouldn’t slavishly copy other countries' policies, especially when it means abandoning the pursuit of a rule-based economic order in favour of a unilateral system bearing China's signature Read more
