Walker Winslow-Stephenson
Across Europe, far-right parties continue to flourish. Walker Winslow-Stephenson argues that Europe’s future rests less on appeals to a pan-European identity or federalist structure than on Europe’s ability to produce tangible, localised benefits for citizens and communities Read more
Karina Adamova
Karina Adamova argues that migration policies which attempt to address labour shortages and decrease refugee migration treat skilled migrants and refugees as separate categories. What they should do, she says, is treat them as the same people at different points in time. Recent events in Germany show that anti-migrant attitudes can affect migrants’ decisions about where to live – even as the country faces significant labour shortages Read more
Christian Kloetzer
The theory of cultural backlash argues that opposition to progressive politics has given us the populist radical right. Christian Kloetzer writes that we may have to turn this logic on its head. The electorates of this party family are not consistently socially conservative. But as the German state elections in Saxony-Anhalt show, the radical right's countercultural assault increasingly channels a comprehensive rejection of all facets of cultural liberalism Read more
Philipp Noetges
Philipp Noetges argues that Sachsen-Anhalt's record vote for the far-right AfD party is less about German exceptionalism than a widening gap between what policy now requires and what any electorate can realistically evaluate: a gap populism exploits faster than evidence-based politics can close On 6 September 2026, Sachsen-Anhalt handed Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) its strongest […] Read more
Vera Tika
Sweden's election defeated the Tidö bloc and blocked the Sweden Democrats' route into government. Yet the restrictive political settlement they helped construct may endure. Vera Tika argues that far-right normalisation is not automatically reversed by electoral defeat: once institutionalised, illiberal change can acquire a political life of its own Read more
Flora Baumgartner
Opposition to sustainable transport projects is growing, because of distributive and identity grievances familiar from broader climate policy. Flora Baumgartner looks at how transport policies are contested locally, and how they act as glue for right-wing parties, locally and at a European level Read more
Iohanne Holt
Last month, on Italian TV, Donald Trump recounted an exchange with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 conference. Trump's claim that Meloni 'begged me to take a picture with her' earned him a sharp rebuke. Many saw this as Meloni's attempt to bolster her popularity ahead of Italy's 2027 election. But Iohanne Holt argues that Trump’s insult struck directly at the international image Meloni has so painstakingly built Read more
Amir Alecperov
Amir Alecperov argues that Russian emigration after 2022 has not produced a break with imperial thinking – it has exported it. From Central Asia to the Baltic states and Germany, a troubling pattern emerges: Russians abroad carry the same mentality that enabled the war. Host states have the right, and the tools, to respond Read more
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