By Linus Höller The foreign ministers of traditionally neutral Austria and Switzerland officially declared their intent to join the German-led “Sky Shield” air defense alliance Friday. The move has reignited debates about what it means to maintain neutrality and is likely to draw criticism from France and Italy for its reliance on American — rather…
Category: Germany
This fall promises to be crucial for the future of Bosnia, a country torn by ethnic tensions, a breakaway republic and rampant corruption. Ahead of general elections and an important United Nations vote, I visited this country at the heart of the Balkans to learn more about the struggles it faces – and how the…
When Yugoslavia disintegrated, it left behind one of the most unusual states in the world. Bosnia and Herzegovina not only consists of two and a half “countries within the country,” but also has three simultaneous presidents, fourteen parliaments and a supreme leader appointed by the U.S. and EU. In this explainer, we take a deep…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a crime not just against Ukraine, but against civility and the Russian people themselves, says Dimitri Androssow, a Russian oppositional politician with PARNAS. Read TWU’s striking interview here.
It’s always election season in Europe – dozens of competitive multi-party democracies packed onto a single continent will do that. Among those heading to the polls later this year are the Germans, choosing the future path for Europe’s most populous country and main economic powerhouse with great sway in the EU’s politics. Recently, the German…
By Linus Hoeller, Northwestern University Few political words raise such intense emotions as “communism” and “socialism.” A common buzzword in elections in the U.S. and around the world alike, they are also really existing and nuanced ideologies. Because of the politicization of the mere terms, some clarity has been lost about where – if anywhere…
Written by Linus Hoeller Lesen Sie diesen Artikel auf Deutsch Lea este artículo en Español 2020 has already been a year marked by incredible societal change, induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, the accompanying economic downturn and other factors, such as the renewed global reckoning with racism and colonial histories. Europe was by no means spared…
Diesen Artikel auf Deutsch lesen The emergence and subsequent global spread of a novel type of coronavirus in the first half of 2020 abruptly put the brakes on our globalized society. Borders went up, planes stayed down, and people all over the world stayed home. As a result of lockdowns, our usually mobile world suddenly…
¡Lea este artículo en Español aquí! Europe has become the epicenter for COVID-19, the respiratory disease sweeping the world and completely uprooting established ways of life in early 2020. In full panic mode and racing to contain the outbreak, most countries have imposed harsh restrictions on movement both within their borders and across them. The…
By Linus Hoeller Title Image: Documents taken from www.nytimes.com Over one million Uighurs have been placed in high-security re-education facilities by Chinese authorities, the United Nations estimate. A Muslim minority of around ten million people in western China’s Xinjiang province, the Uighurs are the target of a systematic campaign by the central government to re-shape…