Eunice Goes, Richmond American International University
David Cameron’s rage at being told he has to pay the European Union an extra £1.7 billion this year seems genuine enough, but this mini-crisis has also offered him a brilliant opportunity to unite his…
Podemos is taking on the Spanish establishment.
EPA/Emilio Naranjo
The recent electoral performances of Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece suggest that left-wing politics is changing. Groups are emerging all over Europe that seek to move away from the left of the past…
Oh hey, just picking up a few Kanelbulle on the way home.
Victor Ochieng
Rumours of a Russian submarine hanging around off the coast of Sweden have inspired much Cold War nostalgia. But while there is of course the chance that something fishy is going on, there are many plausible…
The EU 28 are being sent a message from above.
EPA
Jean-Claude Juncker, the newly elected president of the European Commission, announced his nominated team of commissioners this week. Each represents one of the 28 members states and will take charge of…
After much controvery and some bitterness over his appointment, the confirmation of Jean-Claude Juncker’s appointment to the presidency of the European Commission makes him one of the most influential…
Reflecting rising resentment of European austerity policies, people from Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece protested in 2011 at the European Central Bank.
EPA/Frank Rumpenhorst
European integration has been an enormous success since its inception in the Treaty of Rome in 1957. For the next five decades European Union (EU) member states enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity…
Results in the European Parliament elections so far indicate a slide towards the Eurosceptic and right-wing parties, such as Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party.
EPA/Gerry Penny
Some 400 million eligible voters, 751 seats, 28 countries: a portrait of true democracy at work – unless they held an election and nobody came. Average voter turnout in the weekend’s European Parliament…
France’s new prime minister Manuel Valls.
EPA/Etienne Laurent
Rarely do local elections anywhere have such profound national resonance. In municipal elections on 30 March, France’s governing Socialist Party (PS) lost more than 150 towns and cities. The centre-right…
France’s Front National under Marine Le Pen could be described as ‘right wing’, but in a global context what does that even mean?
EPA/Guillaume Horcajuelo
The rise of the Tea Party in the US and the electoral success of both nationalist populists in Europe and the Abbott government in Australia demonstrates there are many parties with positions described…
Participation is commonly viewed as the cornerstone of liberal democracy. In Europe, however, the decades since the 1980s have been marked by falling participation and increased disillusionment with institutional…
On 18 November 2013, the Italian right-wing leader Silvio Berlusconi dissolved his party, Popolo della Libertà (PDL –- People of Freedom), the founding of which he had announced to his supporters in Milan…
Political commentators are beginning to tire of saying that things can’t get any worse for French Socialist president François Hollande and his government. And yet, catastrophe after catastrophe, things…
Older does not necessarily mean wiser.
Dan Kitwood/PA
Marco Morosini, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
In the midst of its worst depression since 1861, Italy appears to be witnessing the collapse of another government - the 62nd in 68 years. Add ungovernability to economic depression, and Italy is becoming…
To victory: German chancellor Angela Merkel has comfortably won a third term in office.
EPA/Michael Kappeler
When the term “factor” is used in the description of political power, one is reminded of sunscreen or perfume: an ingredient to ingest. One is certainly not reminded of German chancellor Angela Merkel…
The Australian Greens agreed to support a minority Labor government in 2010. What can international examples tell us about the party’s future?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Along with their sister parties in New Zealand, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, the Australian Greens are among a small group of Green parties that have won more than 10% vote share at recent elections…