Worldcrunch
France may look like a paradise from the outside, with free education, early retirement, and working healthcare, yet its people protest as if trapped in hell. President Emmanuel Macron’s failed middle path and Europe’s fragile currency expose a deeper malaise shaking the continent.
He ran “for fun,” filmed every step, and turned controversy into content. Now, from the back row of Brussels, Panayiotou is rewriting what it means to be an MEP in the age of the algorithm.
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.
It is not the first time in history demagogues have spoken of mass movements led by a charismatic leader as “true” democracy, as is happening in several Western nations today. Even the ancients could see this for what it was: a mix of mob rule and political manipulation.
In downtown San Salvador, longtime vendors face abrupt evictions amid Bukele’s push for revitalization. For thousands of street vendors who risk centuries of history for security, the promise of safety now comes with the heavy cost of lost livelihoods.
Poland’s new president Karol Nawrocki, a political outsider backed by the far right, won with a campaign echoing Donald Trump. His victory closes the door on liberal reforms and paves the way for a nationalist comeback.
They train in the woods and strike at night against migrant and LGBTQ targets.Far-right youth groups are emerging across Germany. Die Zeit tracks a new generation of Neo-Nazis.
More good news this week from Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has avoided new tariffs from the U.S. What’s the secret to her success? It has to do with her pragmatic interpretation of from the same socialist National Regeneration Movement as her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The apparent exclusion of Marine Le Pen, leader of the Rassemblement National, from the 2027 French presidential race is a deliberate choice, not a legal necessity, explains prominent French attorney Hervé Lehman.
While Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum comes from the same socialist National Regeneration Movement as her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, their stories are different. What does that mean for the country’s future?
How can we avoid a Trumpification of the debate in France? This is one of the big-picture questions after far-right leader Marine Le Pen was barred from running for public office, after her conviction in an embezzlement trial may mean she will not be able to stand for president in the 2027 elections
Konfederacja, or Confederation, is Poland’s furthest-right mainstream party. Describing itself as economically liberal and nationalist, the party has been rising in the polls ahead of the the May 18 and June 1 presidential election, with growing support from women, young people and the LGBTQ community.
Young men showed one of the most dramatic shifts toward Donald Trump in this year’s election. But with rightward shifts among both men and women of the Gen Z demographic, the reality is reaching deeper — and farther — than most pollsters or analysts can explain.
Germany’s AfD has leveraged TikTok as a key tool in its political strategy, flooding the platform with catchy, populist posts whose virality has strengthened the party’s far-right discourse among a younger demographic.
An analysis of all election programs shows that German political parties have never been more right-wing than today. Of course, there’s the AfD — but other groups have also toughened their stance.
Ahead of Germany’s crucial national elections Sunday, Russia is actively working to destabilize the country through cyberattacks, agents, and disinformation campaigns. Can anything be done to stop or at least counter these attacks?
The reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump is the most recent act in the spectacular, and so far unstoppable, rise of fascism. Faced with his full-blown offensive, Europe must fully invest in its vision as an alternative to Trumpism by defending those most in need.
Misleading videos on the platform are said to have influenced the election in Romania, with accusations against Russian influence. Have we learned anything about manipulation and disinformation since Facebook faced a similar outcry in 2016?
Romania’s out-of-nowhere far right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has become the latest case study showing just how much sway social media platforms can have over elections, going even farther than Donald Trump on Elon Musk’s X.
Having long been the driving force of the European Union, France and Germany are facing multiple crises simultaneously, threatening the balance of their relationship. It couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Donald Trump’s reelection marks a new social coalition that found no voice in traditional political forces, writes Italian historian Giovanni Orsina in daily La Stampa. The utopian-liberal order of the 21st century failed to deliver on its promises and it succumbed to a boisterous, combative new right.
For a long time, contemporary art was the rage room of a conformist society. Now, it is filled with educational purposes. Where have all the angry artists gone?
Scenes of violence against Syrian refugees are no longer unusual in Turkey, a country marked by rising nationalism amid a deepening economic crisis.
Violence and denunciation won’t beat political Islam. Its deconstruction must be through reasoned criticism, the methods of modern science and allowing space for religion to have its influence.
The same nostalgia and same fear of the future seem to animate the two countries that have made exceptionalism their trademark
July 1 – July 7, 2024
Can the surge of the far right in Europe pave the way for Donald Trump’s victory in the United States in November? Or will a majority of Americans reject a convicted former president running for office? Though political patterns are hard to detect, young voters play an important role in what comes next, writes political scientist Dominique Moïsi in French business daily Les Echos.
June 10 – June 16, 2024
In Germany, support for the far-right AfD party is dwindling while its French counterpart, the Rassemblement National of Le Pen, is leading the polls. Opposed trajectories that stem from very different approaches: German radicalization vs. French “dédiabolization.”
Ahead of the June’s EU elections, Europeans are deeply divided between fears of migration and of the Ukraine war, between emotion and reason. How can the EU respond in the most united and credible manner to the Russian threat?
In the run-up to India’s general elections this spring, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been showcasing his adventures in social media posts, his preferred method of communication, saturating the digital landscape of a highly connected country — and avoiding hard questions from the press.
A former member of the Hungarian Parliament warns the U.S. about the potential re-election of Donald Trump, which could mirror Hungary’s slide toward authoritarianism under strongman Viktor Orbán, as the two meet in Florida.
As the far-right propagates a simplified and emotionally resonant message, the lack of coordination and a shared vision among the “non-far-right” strengthens the far-right’s illusion of representing the entirety of “the people.”
As nearly half of the world prepares to vote in elections this year, Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran warns, in the Istanbul-based weekly Oksijen, that many countries are following Turkey’s path from democracy to dictatorship.
Hassan Nasrallah, the longstanding leader of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, grows stronger in direct relation to the declining influence of his rivals, foreign and domestic — embodying the formula for regional influence of Iran’s axis of powers.
August 7 – August 13, 2023
With Poland’s parliamentary election approaching, a controversial far-right political alliance, Konfederacja, has made its way to third place in national opinion polls. With a series of past scandals, a strong presence on social media and steadily increasing numbers in the polls, Konfederacja and party leader Sławomir Mentzen may be headed for a king-making role.
Similar to recent breakthroughs of right-wing parties in other countries, Poland’s anti-immigrant political party has a somewhat different formula that has found surprising support among professional women. And Konfederacja may be decisive in next fall’s national elections.
Subsidies to green industries and the promotion of “quality” jobs: Joe Biden’s economic policy is driven by an American form of “productivism,” which French business daily Les Echos says has allowed the country to regain the upper hand in both economics and politics.
France, Israel, United States: these three democracies all face their own distinct problems. But these problems are revealing disturbing cracks in society that pose a real danger to hard-earned progress that won’t be easily regained.