A new phone, a fancy car, a full fridge: for a long time, politicians assumed that prosperity was all it took to keep democracies running. But that view of human nature is now having serious consequences.
Author: Bernd Ulrich
Bernd Ulrich is a German journalist. He was deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit from 2003 to 2023.
For nearly a century, the West has approached the Middle East with strategic interests — but little genuine understanding. From coups to regime changes to failed red lines, each intervention has produced unintended consequences. Maybe it’s time we admit: the problem isn’t the region. It’s us.
The Left (Die Linke) and the far-right AfD party scored big in Germany’s federal election on Sunday. But their success has less to do with the fact that they offer more or less radical alternatives to other parties than in their style of political discourse — and more moderate parties would be wise to learn a thing or two from this.
How Germany, like other countries in the West, can avoid sweeping judgments and take a clear-eyed approach to a complex reality.