Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed how often EU leaders talk about enlargement, but not how they frame it. Nicole Scicluna shows that despite geopolitical urgency and family rhetoric, enlargement remains overwhelmingly cast as a conditional, merit-based process
Albania has appointed an AI minister for public procurement. But Vera Tika argues that while 'Diella' embodies gendered symbolism and digital modernity, her appointment exposes a gap between European aspiration and democratic accountability
The 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, gives African states an opportunity to turn lofty disarmament pledges into real action. Kudakwashe Mapako argues that reflecting on past efforts and taking advantage of unity, minerals, and norms allows these states to press for irreversible nuclear disarmament
What happens when political elites claim their opponents are simply mad? A proposed Bill on 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' shows how politics can spill into psychiatry. This, argues Ela Serpil Evliyaoğlu, threatens to turn dissent into pathology
The engraved bullets that killed Charlie Kirk in September 2025 were not simply evidence; they were content designed for viral circulation. Mimi Mihăilescu argues that this represents a trajectory first made explicit in Christchurch: terror reimagined not as ideology, but as performance art optimised for algorithmic engagement
Michał Biedowicz outlines a tripartite caveat for this new phase of the Science of Democracy discussion by considering a concept well known but rarely engaged in the study of politics: ideology. Here, he opens up normative considerations that need to be guided by education
On 6 September 2025, the Italian extreme right sealed a new pact. At a national congress, CasaPound Italia, Patriots’ Network (a Forza Nuova splinter), Veneto Skinhead Front, and Brescia to Bresciani launched the committee they call Remigration and Reconquest. Federico Taddei argues its launch could mark a turning point in Italy’s extreme-right galaxy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Trump's plan for peace in Gaza in principle – though he is likely to try and sabotage it. Paul Whiteley warns that this is a dangerous strategy given Netanyahu's woeful approval ratings among ordinary Israelis
Pro-EU MEPs have long pursued a logic of democratisation based on institutional mimicry. But as Jan Pieter Beetz, Gilles Pittoors and Wouter Wolfs argue, this path has become ideologically entrenched at the expense of alternative models that might better connect with European citizens
Abortion rights advocates in hostile environments face difficult choices. Clare Daniel, Anna Mitchell Mahoney and Grace Riley’s research in Louisiana shows how traditional advocacy approaches fail to sway legislators, while attempts to communicate across differences risk long-term consequences. Gender scholarship must contend with the dilemma of sacrificing broader goals for smaller, immediate impacts in increasingly constrained political landscapes
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