Democracy & Citizenship

Should Europe be seriously worried about the latest developments in Italian politics or simply shrug its shoulders and tick off the forthcoming parliamentary elections as yet another convulsion of a chronically unstable system? I have just received a nice envelop from the Italian Consulate in Paris with all the materials to vote to renew the […]

Although an increasing number of political decisions are taken at the European Union (EU) level, national politics remains the prime arena for democratic debate. This deprives the EU of a key source of democratic legitimacy, while showing how national politics are increasingly 'ruling the void'. In my article for JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, I argue that national political parties can provide a solution to both challenges by organisationally linking the national and European levels.

Ever since Hungary and Poland started backsliding on democracy and the rule of law in 2010 and 2015 respectively, academics and practitioners alike have racked their brains over one central question: How can the European Union make noncompliant governments enforce European core values such as democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights?

Opinions on the European Union (EU) cannot easily be put on the commonly used left-right spectrum. Take the Yellow vests, for example, who are explicitly Eurosceptic but do not affiliate themselves with specific political leanings, or take the constituencies of pro-EU parties, who are by far not always enthusiastic about the EU.

This post originally appeared on the UK in a Changing Europe website. As a strapline for Labour’s EU policy, ‘make Brexit work’ has a lot going for it. An echo of ‘get Brexit done’ – which served Boris Johnson and the Conservatives so well in 2019 – it both highlights how un-‘done’ Brexit is, and […]

Brexit is based on blatant mistruths and lies. Every reason given to leave was a stinking falsification. When, one day, there is a public inquiry into how our country was conned, there will be gasps into how conniving, cunning politicians managed to get away with it. Lies, lies and more lies. That’s how Leave won. […]

The title of this post feels insanely optimistic, given the events of the past weeks, but if we don’t try then we certainly won’t succeed. Last month I submitted some evidence to the Follow-up inquiry on the impact of the Protocol, run by the Lord’s EU Committee’s sub-Committee on the Protocol. Being very aware of […]

Since we’re back in a hotter phase of the NIP rhetoric cycle, it’s useful to revisit various points. None of it’s new and I’ve shared all the content below with you before, but apparently that’s not got through to everyone. The UK government is seemingly on the verge (again) of producing a bill that would […]

For our weekly “Ideas on Europe” editorial by UACES, the University Association for European Studies, we have the pleasure to welcome Miriam Mona Mukalazi, from the University of Düsseldorf, in Germany.

For our weekly “Ideas on Europe” editorial by UACES, the University Association for European Studies, we welcome Prof Simon Usherwood, from the Open University, in England.