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February 13, 2026

Synthetic dissidents: how AI protects dissent under repression

Michal Malý Michal Malý and Asker Bryld Staunæs argue that synthetic dissidents mark a new form of opposition politics. In authoritarian regimes, AI avatars and chatbots can propagate risky speech without exposing a single, identifiable speaker. This can protect journalists and activists, but it also changes how responsibility, authenticity and repression work Read more

February 12, 2026

What The Economist magazine's coverage reveals about the European Council

Lucas Schramm Based on a 67-year arc of reporting by British magazine The Economist, Lucas Schramm analyses the European Council, a key institution of the European Union. He shows how that coverage explains why the European Council was created, how it evolved, what it does, and why its dominance is both useful and unsettling Read more

February 11, 2026

🔮 Making sense of decades of populism in Europe with The PopulisTree

Mattia Zulianello Mattia Zulianello introduces the PopulisTree, a new taxonomy and open-access dataset that maps the full diversity of populist parties across Europe over recent decades. Building upon and expanding the existing PopuList database, The PopulisTree helps scholars, journalists, and policymakers analyse one of the most important political phenomena of our times Read more

February 10, 2026

Transatlantic TikTok propaganda and the end of localised populism

Mimi Mihăilescu TikTok deportation propaganda is fast becoming the new border wall. States, platforms and algorithms are fusing into a single machine. This, says Mimi Mihăilescu is turning deportation into bingeable content, burying resistance in the feed, and replacing physical walls with algorithmic control. Local populism dies and global spectacle rules Read more

February 9, 2026

The world order crisis is about authority, not polarity

Fulvio Attinà The world order is not simply shifting from unipolarity to multipolarity, but undergoing a deeper struggle over political authority. Who has the right to make binding global rules, through which institutions, and with what legitimacy? Fulvio Attinà argues that multipolarity helps explain today’s stalled reforms, institutional paralysis, and fragmented alternatives Read more

February 6, 2026

🎈 How public consultations can spark local innovation

Valesca Lima Valesca Lima argues that Irish local authorities tend to treat public participation as a formal administrative requirement. However, by moving beyond performative box-ticking and toward genuine co-design, we can bridge the trust gap. True engagement doesn't just legitimise decisions; it sparks the local innovation our cities desperately need Read more

February 6, 2026

It's not finance, it's your pensions

Martino Comelli Sweden is a social-democratic beacon with one of the world's deepest stock markets. Contradiction? Martino Comelli argues that welfare states actively build financial markets through social policy design. Funded pensions and housing subsidies create investable assets; generous public pensions crowd finance out. The same spending level can produce radically different capitalisms Read more

February 4, 2026

To become a true Arctic power, the US should follow the EU’s example

Aslak Veierud Busch Donald Trump’s sabre-rattling over Greenland has alienated allies and weakened, not strengthened, the US’ position in the Arctic. If the US is serious about solidifying its Arctic position and rebuilding bridges, it should draw some lessons from the EU’s experience, argues Aslak Veierud Busch Read more

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