What do battles over gender equality reveal about the state of multilateral democracy? Drawing on her participation at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Serena Fiorletta shows how contested rights and shifting rules in negotiations around gender equality point to a deeper political crisis
Political trust can shape the trajectory of democracy writes Marta Kołczyńska, but its effects are conditional, uneven, and increases in trust may sometimes even be conducive to democratic decline rather than renewal
Algorithms can help governments manage complexity. But they cannot settle disputes over fairness, dignity and responsibility. İbrahim Hatipoğlu argues that so-called 'wicked' policy problems require political judgement before technical optimisation
Osman Bahadir Dinçer and Zeynep Sahin-Mencütek argue that Syria is not ready for large-scale refugee return. Drawing on interviews with returnees, they show how economic collapse, weak institutions, and social fragmentation undermine reintegration. Policy debates, they say, must move beyond rhetoric to reflect realities on the ground
Milen Lyubenov and Dragomir Stoyanov argue that the Bulgarian parliamentary elections of April 2026 may well have resolved a five-year political crisis through a landslide victory for ex-President Rumen Radev’s new political formation, ‘Progressive Bulgaria’
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has called for sanctions on India’s Hindutva Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, for its flagrant violations of religious freedom. Sonia Sarkar warns that Donald Trump may pay no heed to it, because of own ties with the far-right network
On 21 April 2026 the European Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling, arguing that Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law, in dehumanising LGBTIQ+ people, is incompatible with EU values. Koen Slootmaeckers analyses the Court’s ruling and its wider implications beyond Hungary
Populist governance poses a profound threat to universities, undermining the autonomy essential to knowledge production. Jeremy Ko and James F. Downes reveal how populist leaders invoking 'the people' against elites consistently reduce academic freedom – and right-wing variants accelerate the decline most sharply
In a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, apple-sized metallic lumps on the seabed are gaining international attention. Thiago Thierry examines how these lumps could reshape our approach to energy transition, and how the legal framework for deep-sea mining may be putting the marine environment at risk
When the US repeatedly bluffs and backs down, it no longer looks like strategy and starts to look like a pattern. Fubu Ngubu argues that Europe has begun to recognise this pattern of retreat, and is adjusting accordingly
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