Nautical chart of Mediterranean Sea in portolan style, Genoa, c.1320-1350. Image via Wikimedia Commons Borders define. Conventionally, they seem demarcated, set. If asked to draw your country’s border, you would likely produce a line. But the political situations in nation states and regional unions often bring the jurisdiction of borders into question. There are states determined to acquire more land. And those pushing to restrict legal entry. Forced migration, caused by environmental crises, war and poverty, has become a particularly keen topic for inhospitable hosts, focusing on both exc ..read more

Since the collapse of socialism, demographic change has emerged as one of the biggest Rashomons of contemporary societies, especially in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Understood as a palpable concern by some and dismissed as a political construct by others, it is becoming increasingly prominent in public discourse. In a region with contested yet increasingly liberal social norms, including declining childbearing preferences, conservative governments from Budapest to Warsaw and Belgrade have sought to turn back the societal tide encouraging people to have more children. Financial assistanc ..read more

On 20 March, at the opening ceremony for the annual Leipzig Book Fair, the 2024 Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding was awarded to New School philosopher Omri Boehm for his book Radikaler Universalismus (Radical Universalism) (Propyläen Verlag, 2022). During a keynote address that preceded Boehm’s acceptance speech, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was interrupted repeatedly by shouting from several demonstrators accusing the German government of complicity with Israeli genocide in the Gaza strip. ‘The power of the word,’ Scholz responded, ‘brings us all together here in Leipzig – not ..read more

Kapitalizem ni več svetel žarek: nekoč vplivne države so tik pred tem, da se vpišejo med gospodarstva tretjega sveta; razvijajoče se sile nič več ne stremijo k viziji Zahoda o napredku. Bi bilo mogoče ob izogibanju uničevanju okolja najti uspešno alternativo v opuščanju navezanosti na preteklost in utopične ideale?  Nostalgija je očitno značilnost našega časa. Širi se tako rekoč od vsepovsod: iz popularne kulture, mode, umetnosti, celo politika se zastira z grenko-sladko kopreno melanholičnega občudovanja preteklosti in njenega poustvarjanja – ali vsaj tovrstnih poskus ..read more

Säg att du går ut för att köpa en ny vinterjacka. Du har en begränsad budget och efter att ha suttit och surfat har du fattat ett antal beslut i förväg: jackan måste ha en viss tjocklek, inga fåniga dragskor i midjan och helst bra innerfickor. Du hittar jackor som uppfyller kraven men kan inte bestämma dig för någon av dem. Så provar du en jacka som inte uppfyller något av kraven och köper den på stört, för att den känns rätt, nästan utan att du fattat beslutet. Du blir förmodligen ganska nöjd. Din livslånga erfarenhet av att ha vinterjacka på kroppen består av en stor mängd sensorisk informat ..read more

Synen har sedan länge gärna betraktats som människans främsta och ädlaste sinne. Det har lämnat spår i språket, som i meningen precis före den här: att betrakta något är både att se på det och att tänka på det. Jag kan mycket väl säga att jag vill granska, skärskåda eller få insikt i något som inte är direkt synligt för mina ögon, utan att framstå som alltför litterär eller allegorisk. Visst kan jag ibland även nosa på något, få en försmak, greppa eller lyssna in, men synen är den mest etablerade metaforen för abstrakt mental aktivitet. Det är en metaforik som sedan länge är begravd i vardagss ..read more

Wars have many beginnings, but they refuse to end — history is merciless in giving this lesson to us again and again. Amid the ten-year Russian war in Ukraine, this thought is unbearable. Despite all odds, we need the idea of victory to hold us together in a shared effort of moving through the horrid reality of loss and devastation that ruptures and obliterates our more-than-human communities, land and material culture. The idea of victory is an orienting force in the chaos of war, it serves as a guarantee of the future where Ukrainian society is not stripped of dignity and recovery is possib ..read more

Kaja Puto: Where does the German left’s sympathy for Russia come from? Reinhard Bingener: In Germany, we have four leftwing parties: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Greens (Die Grünen), the Left (Die Linke) and the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). Each has a slightly different attitude towards Russia. In the case of the SPD, the 1960s and 70s were key to its development. This was the time of the pacifist movements and young Social Democrats were pulling the party toward Marxism. Gerhard Schröder, the most prominent of the SPD’s pro-Russian politicians, belonged to this ..read more

From the public school superpower Finland to arch-capitalist Britain, education varies widely across Europe. Across this spectrum, one factor remains constant: early childhood education constitutes a necessity for most families, as it defines the future of their children’s academic careers.  You can also listen to the show in podcast format: What we recognize today as nurseries and kindergartens originate from early 19th-century experiments: Robert Owen’s Infants’ School in Scotland opened in 1816, while Teréz Brunszvik championed ‘angel gardens’ in Hungary beginning in 1828. The term ..read more

Imagine a workweek that wraps up after four days, leaving you three days to relax, enjoy quality time with loved ones and follow personal pursuits. Through pilot projects or full legal recognition, the four-day workweek is no longer a pipedream, but the reality of many employees across Europe and around the globe. Pilot projects have been run in several countries, and the results have been surprisingly positive. Among them is the United Kingdom, where a six-month trial involving 61 companies and 2,900 employees achieved an astonishing 90 percent retention rate. Employees continued to receive ..read more