Tag: EU
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Now, with Trump in the White House, We Need a European Army
Much has been written about the new president-elect of the United States, and much about his total lack of experience in public office. Less remarked upon, however, is that Donald Trump has also never served in the armed forces, something regarded in times past as an alternative accolade of respectability for presidential candidates. Most famously,…
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How the EU Global Strategy Reshapes Democracy Promotion
When Federica Mogherini took the stage on June 28, the vast majority of politicians and journalists were still buzzing around Brexit. Instead of joining the debates about the demise of the European project, the EU’s High Commissioner Mogherini went on to lay out a clear vision for the union’s further interactions with the world –…
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Whose Failure is the Rise of the Far Right?
In recent years several EU countries have been facing a growing support for far right parties. Slovakia, my home country, is not an exception here. A couple of years ago the Slovak Prime Minister and leader of the social democratic party Smer, Robert Fico was asked if he felt any personal responsibility in this matter.…
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Dungavel Detention Centre Closure – a New Beginning for Asylum Seekers in Scotland?
You can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected. Often these people are held like criminals with no rights, safety or a place to call home. In Germany those who do not leave voluntarily lose the right to visit the country in the future…
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TV Licensing in Greece: Concealed Censorship or Appropriate Solution?
For 27 consecutive years private TV channels have been operating in Greece with temporary licenses provided by the Greek Parliament in 1989 and extended since then either by law or by ministerial decisions. In 2015 the SYRIZA government decided to give a definite solution to this matter and to regulate the telecoms sector appropriately. In…
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A Dual Struggle for the Present and Future of Europe
Back in 2013, in his provocative article ‘The Latin Empire should strike back’, Giorgio Agamben revived the idea of a union of southern European countries, a proposal first launched by another philosopher, Alexandre Kojève. During the ongoing economic crisis, we have read and heard many times about the north-south divide within the European Union or…
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For UK Politics, Brexit Is Set to Be a Slow Grind of Contradictions
On Monday 5 September, over two months since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the new Brexit minister David Davis stood up to address Parliament on the government’s plan for the upcoming negotiations. Many of us who voted Remain were curious to see exactly what sort of consensus had been reached within the cabinet…
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Britain Has Voted Out, and Europa Is Weeping
This is the feeling of the axis of history tilting: not a smooth, mechanical turn, but the ground shifting and trembling beneath your feet. What even yesterday seemed so solid is now running through your fingers like silt. The possibilities that gave you hope have vanished behind a cloud, and now there is only a…
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A Pivotal Weekend in Britain’s EU Referendum Campaign?
President Barack Obama’s intervention in Britain’s EU referendum campaign on Friday 22th April undoubtedly marked the most significant moment in the battle over Britain’s EU membership to date. Obama, who is wildly popular in the UK (around nine months ago, Pew Research Center estimated he had an approval rating of 76% in Britain), announced during…
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Is UKIP Here to Stay?
Like radioactive particles, radical political movements are inherently unstable. Organisations on both the far-Right and far-Left have a reliable tendency to implode just as they seem to be reaching the apex of their popularity, ripped apart by the conflicting imperatives of pragmatism and ideological purity. This has certainly been the case for the British far-Right…