On February 13th, a few hours after the adoption by the Greek Parliament of an austerity programme strongly supported by the EU and the IMF, the government’s spokesman Pantelis Kapsis announced that Greek legislative elections would take place in April 2012. While the current coalition government struggles to implement the economic reforms demanded by Greece’s eurozonee partners, the political climate in the country appears extremely tense. Read more

Traditionally relying on the United States for equipment, technology and logistical support since 1945, the British government signed a milestone treaty with France on 4 November 2010 that would bind the two countries to an unprecedented extent since the Second World War. Just 8 months after this, the Libyan people decided to put this new partnership to a test. What is this partnership and how did it come to existence ? How was it affected by the Libyan intervention ? Will it succeed or fail to deliver ? Read more

In days gone by, the Social democrats were seen as the natural rulers of Sweden. But in the past few years the center-right coalition has managed to hold on to power by drawing votes from the middle-class. Does it mean the Swedes are rejecting the traditional, strong Nordic welfare state? Or is it rather a sign of a more European-wide malaise about social-democracy? Read more

Few scholars have attempted a systematic comparison of populism in Western and post-communist Europe: studies of populism tend to be limited to one region or another, and when pan-European studies do occur, regional specificities disappear in an attempt not to essentialize “east” and “west”. The more theory-driven work on populism, however, offers useful tools to compare the nature and the causes of populist discourse at both ends of the European Union.   Read more