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July 11, 2025

When education policy meets the classroom

Whether intercultural education fails or thrives depends not just on policies, but on the teachers implementing them. Drawing on fieldwork in Italy, Irene Landini shows how inclusive practices emerge — or falter — depending on school leadership, discretion, and innovation Schools at the frontline of diversity and inclusion Europe is grappling with changing demographics and polarised debates […]
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July 11, 2025

Thirty years after Srebrenica, is Bosnia and Herzegovina a viable state?

On the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia, Albrecht Rothacher looks back at the significance of that event, and the confederal State it produced. Three decades on, can the EU realistically consider Bosnia and Herzegovina as a potential member state? Eight days of murder 11 July 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of […]
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July 10, 2025

The EU’s quiet shift toward an ‘(un)safe fourth country’ asylum policy

The European Commission has proposed letting member states drop the ‘connection requirement’ from the ‘safe third country’ concept in asylum cases. Gaia Romeo and Frowin Rausis argue this seemingly technical tweak marks a major shift — toward an ‘(un)safe fourth country’ approach that some countries have repeatedly tried, and failed
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July 10, 2025

Why we need to halt ‘hard right’ in its tracks

Far-right parties are doing well – so it’s important that we see them for what they are. Yet, in the UK, the label ‘hard right’ is catching on. Why is debateable. But, argues Tim Bale, it’s a misdescription which sanitises these parties. Scholars of the far right should therefore push back
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July 9, 2025

🔮 How corruption convictions help leaders gain support

We often attribute populism’s rise to structural factors — economic insecurity, digital technology, and cultural backlash. But Manoel Gehrke and Feng Yang reveal a more immediate trigger: former leaders' conviction for corruption. In less democratic contexts, these rulings open the door for governments to amplify personalistic appeals — and boost their popularity One of the […]
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July 9, 2025

The British National (Overseas) visa: a geopolitical tool in UK-China relations 

Political parties frame the UK’s British National (Overseas) visa scheme as historical humanitarian responsibility towards Hong Kong in the context of UK-China relations. But is that really the case? James F. Downes and Kenneth Lai analysed parliamentary speeches from 2019 to 2023. Their findings suggest the UK government uses BNO visas as a geopolitical tool
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July 8, 2025

🧭 How staged integration can revitalise EU enlargement

Staged integration is gaining traction to revitalise EU enlargement without lowering standards. Drawing on Ukraine’s experience, Ivan Nagornyak and Mariia Shalamberidze examine expert models and propose a structured, fair, and security-conscious approach
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July 7, 2025

☢️ Nuclear norms under pressure: the case for upholding the test ban

On 29 August 2025, the 15th International Day against Nuclear Tests will mark 80 years since the first nuclear test. Amid renewed geopolitical strain, Maren Vieluf argues that defending the nuclear test ban remains vital to preserving international norms and preventing further erosion of the global nuclear order
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July 4, 2025

JD Vance’s international right-wing populism

Right-wing populism has gone beyond the nation state. Analysing JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, Yunus Poblome describes how US foreign policy under Trump depicts Europe as being led by a corrupt elite which refuses to listen to its conservative people. This, he argues, further legitimise Europe’s own right-wing populists
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July 3, 2025

Romania's misogynist political apparatus 

In May, Romanian reality star Teodora Marcu was shot dead by her former partner. Thousands marched in protest, but the state remained silent. Mimi Mihăilescu argues that Romania’s democracy, which has long excluded women from power, must confront the systems that render women's deaths predictable and politically acceptable 
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