Europe Reacts to the 2020 US Presidential Election

The resilience of American democracy gives us reason to hope

Europeans have long awaited the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election with conflicting feelings of fear and hope. In Berlin, Paris, and Brussels, leaders have hoped that a Biden presidency might spur a renewal of transatlantic relations, while in Warsaw and Budapest, populist executives hoped for a second Trump ...
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Europe Reacts to the 2020 US Presidential Election

The Fascist Politics of the Pandemic

Around the world, far-right leaders’ responses to the pandemic feature key elements of fascist ideology

There is nothing like a pandemic to bring out the fascist ideology in countries under far-right rule. In the world's three largest democracies, national leaders are using the COVID-19 crisis to wage war on immigrants and minorities, while testing the limits of common sense. NEW YORK/NEW HAVEN -- In stark contrast ...
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The Fascist Politics of the Pandemic

A Ticket for the Rome Express

A Strategy for Democracy

In Budapest, and shortly before local elections, some of my friends now speak of the Istanbul Express. As readers know, in that enormous city, followers of the slightly left Republican People’s Party (CHP), of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and a small nationalist grouping, “the Good Party,” united to ...
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Why Freedom of Expression Is At Stake In Italy

The suspension of a teacher is sparking debate across the country

At this very moment, hundreds of Italian teachers are expressing their open dissent with this decision on social media, and writing in solidarity with the recently suspended 63-year-old teacher. My aim is not to analyze whether the comparison between Interior Minister and rightist populist League party leader Matteo Salvini and Benito Mussolini ...
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By Land and By Sea

Salvini’s war on immigration

The decree recently approved by the Italian government restricting the right to asylum is the terrestrial counterpart to the criminalization of NGOs operating in the Mediterranean. The climax to Matteo Salvini’s ongoing campaign against humanitarianism, it will have a fundamental impact on the management of migration within the country. Salvini’s war ...
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By Land and By Sea

Europe’s Nationalist International

Europe’s far-right groups and ideologues have long been collaborating across national borders to further their agendas

Immediately after Marine Le Pen successfully advanced to the second round of the French Presidential election by beating the candidate from the mainstream right, Italy's far-right leader Matteo Salvini, tweeted a photo of him with the French politician, with the caption "Go Marine." He later added: "it is time get ...
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Europe’s Nationalist International