Showing 1 - 10 of 15
Another Brexit vote is a bad idea
News, John Lloyd, Published on 10/12/2018
» In the "careful what you wish for" stakes, few issues rank higher than the plan for a second referendum by those in the UK hoping for a reversal of the country's June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (the "Remainers"). If secured, the outcome could be a fast track to a phenomenon the UK has so far avoided -- the creation of a large, angry populist party, probably of the right and perhaps also of the left.
Is populism a disease? Or a cure?
News, John Lloyd, Published on 29/10/2018
» Populist nationalism is here to stay. Many still believe it a phase which, like surliness in adolescence, will pass and be succeeded by orderly, thoughtful maturity. But they will find that the political world, already changed, will disappoint them. Liberalism, however defined, is not politics' default position: mainstream politicians are in a fight ring facing young contenders buoyed by a string of victories.
Beware the online culture warriors
News, John Lloyd, Published on 22/10/2018
» The news media in the Western world remains dominated by newspapers, magazines and broadcasters still known as the mainstream. The most vivid proof of their continued reign over public opinion is in the figure of US President Donald Trump, whose repeated attacks on "failing" publications like The New York Times and the Washington Post as "enemies of the people" is a backhanded tribute to their continued power.
Steve Bannon's boost to Europe's far right parties
News, John Lloyd, Published on 06/08/2018
» The various movements gathered under the name of Europe's "far right" have not risen like a straight line on a graph. There have been -- still are -- lows as well as highs. Yet there is a new sense of purpose, thanks to a new movement -- called "The Movement," and launched by former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon -- and to Hungarian premier Viktor Orban's call to the right to "concentrate our strength" on the May 2019 elections to the European Parliament.
Three liberal prophets of doom
News, John Lloyd, Published on 31/07/2018
» Liberal democratic institutions and states are under sustained pressure, from outside and from within. The question now is how well liberal and democratic defences can withstand the onslaught.
Migrant misery spans worldwide
News, John Lloyd, Published on 25/06/2018
» It's an increasingly hard world for those seeking a better life in richer countries. Immigrants aren't welcome in most states, even where demographic trends reflect the need to expand the labor force to levels able to sustain and support aging populations.
The outsized power of Hungary's Premier Orban
News, John Lloyd, Published on 18/06/2018
» Closing a major university is a big deal. Created, staffed and maintained at large, usually public, expense, universities serve both a utilitarian and an idealistic purpose: to provide the highly-educated workforce modern economies require, and to uphold and further civilised values through the understanding of the world the various academic disciplines claim to provide.
Italy's right to make wrong choice
News, John Lloyd, Published on 04/06/2018
» The Italian crisis is over, and has just begun. Its dimensions go far beyond Italy; they are now European, even global. The near three-month long improvisations on a theme of governance ended Thursday with the announcement of an administration headed by Giuseppe Conte, a law professor with no government experience tasked with running a cabinet controlled by the leaders of the two parties which form that administration -- a signal of weak, divided and warring politics at the summit of power for the foreseeable future.
What Italy's power crash means for the EU: It's all bad
News, John Lloyd, Published on 07/03/2018
» Power has crashed down in Italy -- in two senses.
Democracy is key for uniting disparate Europe
News, John Lloyd, Published on 08/01/2018
» The European political year, grinding back into gear for 2018, is full of doubt, even woe. In the continent's major countries politics are stuck, or likely to stick, in cul-de-sacs from which exit is difficult. Only in France, under the banner not so much of the tricolour as the injunction En Marche! (Let's Go!), is there official optimism and vigour.