From the liberal public sphere to the information commons Dan Hind In response to political pressure, digital platforms are abandoning their laissez-faire approach to content and allying with …
How disinformation became a winning strategy
Adam Ramsay The Conservative victory in the UK election was driven by hatred of a broken political process inflamed by disinformation and media cynicism, argues Adam Ramsay of openDemocracy. …
Lies, fakes and deep fakes
Deceptions and scams in the age of Trump Sidney Tarrow ‘Deep fakes’ are increasingly being used to damage the reputation of political leaders, interfere in elections, and undermine faith …
Post-Brexit, Imperiled Transatlantic Relationship More Important Than Ever
Dr. Alexander Görlach Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs The UK’s impending departure from the European Union on January 31 creates at least one certainty. Following the Tories’ …
Why do young women dominate Finnish politics?
Janne Wass Finnish politics today is dominated by women, many under the age of 35. This is a result of long-standing efforts to include more women in leadership. But the …
Gender craze
Revoking the MA in gender studies in Hungary and right-wing populist rhetoric Erzsébet Barát The Orbán regime’s ‘war on gender’ and scapegoating of scholarly dissent rely on long-lasting popular animosity …
The shelf-life of democracies
An interview with George Blecher on US politics in the age of Trump George Blecher Adam Reichardt Media acceleration puts enormous emphasis on speed, creating a pressure on …
The seven deadly sins of journalism
Daniel Pelletier Maximilian Probst Climate change is the biggest story ever – and yet the media do not do it justice. To blame are a number of journalistic vices, from …
Trust me, I’m lying
Why fake news is good news Valentin Groebner The history of news is the history of the confusion between the real and the fake – with that master of disguise, …
Pariahs and parvenus?
Refugees and new divisions in Europe Valeria Korablyova Hannah Arendt once remarked that the rights of man proved to be unenforceable in postwar Europe. Currently, observes Valeria Korablyova, the …
Critique of humanitarian reason
Never have there been more refugees in the world as today: an estimated 45 million in total. So what’s the current relationship between international law, emancipatory politics and the rights of the …
Big Brother to the rescue
Can artificial intelligence help in Ukraine’s fight against corruption? Kristina V. Arianina The Ukrainian government has announced a scheme to use AI to fight corruption in the Verkhovna Rada, the …
The war on rough sleeping
On the criminalization of homelessness in Hungary Vera Kovács The criminalization of homelessness was written into the Hungarian constitution in 2018, which caused international uproar and condemnation by the UN. …
Free expression on the margins
The Kremlin and the media Maria Lipman On coming to power, Vladimir Putin set about restricting the freedoms that Russian media enjoyed under Yeltsin. After the protests of 2011–12, …
The price of unity
The transformation of Germany and east central Europe after 1989 Philipp Ther The strength of the German economy is often attributed to the shock therapy of the 1990s. But …