Clock times and social times conflict across much of Europe. Timekeeping is a deeply political matter, and João Lipinsky Nunes of Better Times takes issue with them.This conversation is a bonus to accompany our talk show episode on timekeeping from our Standard Time production: https://www.eurozine.com/its-about-time/Please subscribe, like this epi…

Overlapping crises, enforced political passivity and a new political normal: all things that gradually dismantle a democracy. Long standing Eurozine contributor, historian Ferenc Laczó joins editor-in-chief Réka Kinga Papp to discuss how a democracy can be alive and dead at the same time. Laczó took part in the discussion about how democracies die …

The European experience has changed in biblical proportions in the past year. A major land war in Ukraine, instances of genocide, and the continued rise of anti-democratic political movements pose more than a mere challenge. On the other hand, the introduction of AI to the general public is yet not fully understood. All of these are framed by the i…

Although it makes for a great dramatic effect, the theories of the sudden death of democracy disregard the gradual erosion and capture of institutions, and the role of the populace - argues political scientist John Keane.Keane, a key theoretician of media history joins from his home in Melbourne, Australia to discuss his article, 'How democracies d…

The centuries-old debate over whether certain countries belong to the East or the centre of Europe has fairly little to do with geography. In this extended episode, exclusively available to our Patrons, anthropologist Iván Kalmár discusses privilege and its fight against equality; race and cultural hegemony, and more.You can read Iván Kalmár's arti…

Ukrainian artists are pressured by their international peers who still entertain the naive idea that the purpose of culture is reconciliation.They have to push back against these naive initiatives, but walk a tightrope as they need to nevertheless keep western attention, says curator and art historian Kateryna Botanova.This episode is a condensed a…

In this episode of Gagarin, director André Wilkens talks about the state of the European project ahead of Europe Day or Schumann Day on the 9th of May. The director of the European Cultural Foudation points out how Putin's war on Ukraine reminds Europe of why it needed to unite in the first place; the role of cultural workers in the crisis of war a…

Today’s guest is a native of Sevastopol: Anton Shekhovtsov, Director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, and author of the book ‘Russia and the Western Far Right’.In this episode, he tells about Russian imperialist mythology and how the insane propaganda of Ukraine’s de-Nazification came about; the new status of Belarus as a mere vassal state; …

Behind vaccine hesitancy and the skyrocketing of bogus medicine, lies a motivated rejection of science, and the effects of a decades-long campaign waged against climate science and medicine. Political scientist Péter Krekó offers a way to understand why public health has become such a battleground of beliefs, and why rationality is not a straight a…

Europe is facing a demographic crisis, resulting in suffocating labour shortages, and yet, incoming migration is more and more rejected in mainstream politics. Can the EU come to terms with this great contradiction without an implosion?Editor-in-chief Réka Kinga Papp asks Ranabir Samaddar, distinguished chair in migration and forced migration studi…

How is whiteness constituted and why is it so fragile? What's at stake in discussing colonial memory for eastern Europeans? Do they actually eat a lot of cabbage? (Spoiler: they do. It's delicious.)Historian Aro Velmet, editor of the Estonian cultural journal 'Vikerkaar' talks his recent articles on medical history and colonial memory from Eurozine…

The EU needs to prove itself the champion it has long been projected to be, André Wilkens argues in our interview about recovery funds, cultural transformation and the advantages of enforced digitization in culture. In this conversation, the director of the European Cultural Foundation addresses budget lines and bank holidays and discusses his own …

How do journalists, academics and artists react to political pressure in their profession, on their institutions? When do they reach a boiling point, and how can they avoid self-censorship? The first part of the 31st European Meeting of Cultural Journals – entitled ‘Watch your mouth! Journalism now and tomorrow’ – was livestreamed from Budapest on …

From climate change to political corruption and authoritarianism, leaders of protest movements share a common dilemma: how to achieve impact when existing parties and institutions cannot be trusted? Claus Leggewie talks with emerging leaders of European protest movements: Helena Marschall of Fridays for Future Frankfurt (Germany), Dóra Papp of aHan…

After 1989, economic determinism was replaced by imitation of the West. Was that process authentically spontaneous or were eastern Europeans staging a script they did not write? Either way, imitation created a crisis of identity, the consequences of which are still unfolding.Ivan Krastev and Holly Case discussed the issue of imitation and substitut…

Welcome to Gagarin, the Eurozine podcast with authors and editors of cultural journals from throughout Europe, and beyond. Eurozine is an online magaizne and a network of 90 partners: journals, magazines and associates, from Belgium to Belarus, from Norway to Bulgaria, publishing literature and analyzing politics, reflecting on culture and bringing…

In this episode of Gagarin, the Eurozine podcast, Eurozine editor Sarah Waring and Göran Dahlberg, editor of Glänta and member of the Eurozine Board of Trustees, peer around the door of the Swedish cultural journal to discuss its past, present and forthcoming innovative scope and content.Eurozine

Is the term ‘fascism’ applicable to an authoritarian politician like Trump? Does the label ‘anti-fascist’ gloss over crucial controversies surrounding the term? And is Weimar a useful comparison when thinking about anti-democratic tendencies in the US, in the EU and globally? Eurozine talks to James Miller, Professor of Politics and Liberal Studies…

Can a sense of belonging exist that both encompasses nationhood and goes beyond it? Gary Younge, Susan Nieman and Jan Plamper look for a European identity that turns neoliberal ideology around. https://www.eurozine.com/contaminated-words/Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, so you'll always know what's worth thinking about: https://www.eurozine.com/…

Was the East-West split never meant to go away, or did an uneven exchange of influences stop the European unification many had so hoped for? Some seem to forever carry the East with them, while others substitute the colloquial ‘end of history’ with shallow concepts for political gain. Easterners are tired of the perpetual post-Communist stigma, whi…

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are yet to come to terms with 1989’s historical significance, let alone the challenges of the present. What is the actual meaning of the ‘annus mirabilis’ and everything that followed? If this question is still unanswered, perhaps our approach is flawed, suggests Karl Schlögel.1989 and its afterma…

Eurozine editor Simon Garnett talks to Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins about Bellingcat’s pathbreaking investigations into the shooting down of MH17 and the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. We're particularly interested in hearing about Higgins’s experience with pro-Russian and pro-Syrian disinformation, and how Bellingcat navigates this hy…

What does dataism have to do with positivism, and how does friction help create resistance? Eurozine's editor-in-chief Réka Kinga Papp talks to philosopher Miriam Rasch of the Institute of Network Cultures, a member of the Eurozine Board of Editors, about her new essay 'Friction and the aesthetics of the smooth: ethics in times of dataism'. https:/…