Special Reports archive

American political philosopher explains why in her view a ban on wearing burqas is a sign of islamophobia, how can we address the question of violence against women and why she believes a man has an inherent tendency towards evil.

French philosopher rebuts arguments of Martha Nussbaum, which are criticizing French immigration policy. According to Alain Finkielkraut, covering face by a woman means taking away her personality.

Fears of Ukrainian nationalism and of Russian imperialism have some historical grounding. But, as in all fears, these two contain traces of insecurity, delusion and only partly formulated arguments about national security being threatened.

On the initiative of professor Timothy Snyder (Yale University, IWM) and Leon Wieseltier (“The New Republic”) a conference “Ukraine: Thinking Together” will be held in Kiev from 16th May to 19th May. Before it begins we ask prof. Snyder to briefly explain the idea and aim of the meeting.

Viktor Yanukovych’s fall from power means Svoboda has lost its most important means of negatively influencing voters, while also still lacking any tools of motivating them positively. The national colours of Ukraine were also the colours of the revolution – its society today, however, displays civic-republican rather than nationalistic tendencies.

Faced with the Euro crisis, it was Angela Merkel that has set the policy for Europe. It is still too early to say if the austerity policies she has insisted upon for highly indebted countries will work. But at least in this area, she has accepted a leadership role. However, leadership is sorely needed in foreign and security policy, too. Europe needs to think and act strategically in order to help stabilize and democratize its eastern and southern neighborhoods. The same goes for building a new…

The almost certain electoral success of Angela Merkel in the elections to the Bundestag on September 22 will be a confirmation of the exceptional symbiosis binding the chancellor, who has been holding power for the last eight years, and the German society. Probably no German chancellor since the time of Willy Brandt had such a good understanding of social sentiment and none stood so well for the zeitgeist of the political époque.

When the financial crisis arrived on the Old Continent from the United States, it turned out that Berlin was the only capital that managed best to cope with it and that it slowly began to take over the initiative in the EU. Germany’s growing domination conjured up the ghosts of the past. There is nothing more convincing than the current crisis that economic policy must be accompanied by a more efficient policy of remembrance.

Claus Leggewie talks to Jakub Stańczyk on the German society’s state of mind before the coming election, the Chancellor in office, and the energy policy in a European dimension.

Today’s contradicting expectations from Germany and extreme opinions come as a confirmation of a special status of this country in Europe. The present German Kanzlerin reassures us about her pro-European instincts but also about her resolute defence of the German interests. Disappearance of the reason for which the decision to restructure the Euro Zone has been postponed, and reappearance of a tempestuous discussion on subsequent aid packages will be the major effects of Germany’s coming…

To what extent does this year’s campaign tell us something about our neighbor’s political class and society?

Claudia Kemfert talks to Kacper Szulecki about the German energy turnaround.

Poland does not seek an understanding and dialogue with Germany on energy policy, does not want to use the neighbor’s experience, and does not seek compromise.

transformation of the German energy consumers into prosumers. Independent energy producers were to cater for themselves and sell the surplus to the public network. The need for becoming independent from the depleting and ever more expensive fossil fuels was being emphasized, along with the energy empowerment of the German citizens. Today those ideals have been completely betrayed in Germany.

Make no mistake, we will not let the pesky Germans spoil us with their solar sorcery. And if you want to know the culprit, look no further than the Sun.

Barack Obama won re-election, his party managed to hold the Senate, and the House of Representatives is still – exactly as before the elections – dominated by the Republicans hostile to presidential administration. Nothing has changed? By no means, potential changes are more than plenty, but the most important one concerns the American right.

If one were to judge by the campaign debate on foreign policy between President Obama and Governor Romney held a few weeks ago, there is very little to separate the two candidates when it comes to U.S. international policy.

Political scientist Benjamin Barber in an interview with Łukasz Pawłowski on the American presidential election, future of the Tea Party and Mitt Romney’s uniqueness.

Martin Wolf, chief economic correspondent at the Financial Times, on the impact of the presidential election on American economy, disappointment with Obama’s stimulus and irresponsibility of Mitt Romney’s proposals.

American journalist and author, Anne Applebaum, on U.S. foreign policy, differences between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and the limits of presidential power.

While most Hungarians were thinking only about dressing the tree and buying the final Christmas presents, Viktor Orbán’s government kept busy. Despite the opposition’s protests, the day before Christmas Eve the Hungarian parliament passed a package of rather controversial laws.

The Hungarian Presidency in the EU Council in the first half of 2011 began with a discussion on the new media act.

Viktor Orbán makes a point of calling the landslide victory of Fidesz in the April 2010 elections a “revolution at the ballot box.” This expression bears an uncanny resemblance to the political discourse of 1989 in Central Europe and is probably the last trace of political genealogy of Orbán, who started as a liberal within the ranks of the Hungarian democratic opposition during late Socialism.

We should not have excessive expectations of the impact Polish presidency will have over the European Union during the next six months. Due to the reform introduced by the Lisbon Treaty the role of the country presiding in the Council of the European Union has been largely diminished and one has to bear in mind that the scope for action is nowadays quite limited.

During a conference organized five years ago in London to celebrate Europe Day one of the major issues raised by Austrian ambassador to the United Kingdom (Austria was at that time president of the EU) was… the lack of jokes on European Union. At the time being, only British historian, Timothy Garton Ash, replied with the one-liner: “If the EU applied to join the EU it would not be admitted”. Over the next few years this became more of a reality than anecdote and I am pretty sure that…

In the Polish presidency the more important part is “Polish” rather than “presidency”, because, first of all, this is no longer a position that would give its holder real power and secondly the circumstances in which we take over it are not favourable. The crisis in the eurozone means that our influence on one of the most important issues of the day is limited and – what is no less important – it undermines all the ideas for spending European money which threatens many initiatives…

Presidency in the European Union as specified in European treatises is a part of all-European and transnational politics. This neologism in the political language clearly emphasizes the uniqueness of the European political system. Its “hybridism” makes the European Union something less than federation but more than a mere coalition of states.