Suchergebnisse

Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H) is notoriously hard to govern. Scarred from a bloody war in the 1990s after the collapse of Yugoslavia, the country's constitutional order emerged in international peace talks in the United States. What later became famous as the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) might have stopped the war but, in our opinion, sowed the seeds for complex democratic problems today. As we will show in this text, the ECtHR's judgments represent a false hope for democracy in B&H, because ethnopolitical parties in B&H will not agree on how to implement the ECtHR's judgments and the Office of the High Representative will not take a more active role in this context. We therefore argue against an earlier contribution on this blog by Woelk (2023), who suggested that the solution for the implementation of the ECtHR's judgments should come from within the country, as we will show, ethnopolitical actors do not have a real interest in implementing these judgments. To put it bluntly, change from within is, alas, pie in the sky. It is much more likely that nothing changes and the powers that are remain the powers that will be.

The Israel Supreme has become a major mobilizing source for the weekly mass protests against the reform that have been taking place in the last six months in many Israeli towns. Tens of thousands of liberals and conservatives rally around this institution, if not around anything else, confident that the Court is capable of preventing the government from irreversibly breaching the democratic walls. Unfortunately, this confidence is both unfounded and likely to sabotage the anti-reform movement. Given its past rulings and when keeping in mind the conservative nature of the institution of the Israeli judiciary, it is safe to say that the Israel Supreme Court will not be able to salvage the country from a democratic backsliding driven by a determined executive.

Die Nachwuchsforschergruppe "Democratic Hope" verstanstaltet am 11. und 12. April 2024 an der Freien Universität Berlin einen Doktorandenworkshop zum Thema "Materialist Perspectives on Hope and Utopia". Abstracts (max. 500 Wörter) für Beiträge, die sich aus Perspektive von Marxismus und Kritischer Theorie mit Fragen von Hoffnung und Utopie auseinandersetzen, können bis spätestens 12. November an die […]

In this article, Loaay Wattad focuses on the evolution of hope and morality in dystopian narratives. Through the case study of 'The Hunger Games' trilogy, he explores how dystopian literature manifests and reverberates in our daily lives and emphasizes its development into a tangible political statement—one that challenges Hobbesian philosophy and its expression in contemporary politics. This analysis takes on added poignancy in light of current events, such as the ongoing war on Gaza, highlighting the timeliness and relevance of dystopian reflections in the face of contemporary conflicts and wars.

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of The February Journal. Deadline: November 15, 2023

Anna Dziapshipa's essay film "Self-Portrait Along the Borderline" (2023) was screened as part of the Georgian Film Series at the Ukrainian Film Festival (UFF) in Berlin. In the film, Dziapshipa uses her family archive to reconstruct an intimate portrait of her Georgian-Abkhazian family and to reflect on broader issues of identity and memory in the context of war. A review by Ekaterina Grineva.

— Panel 5.A: Shelters for Democracy: Care, Hope, and Solidarity — Im Mittelpunkt dieses Panels standen feministische und dekoloniale Formen von Solidarität, die in Abwesenheit von Schutzräumen oder dort, wo Schutzräume in Demokratien unzulänglich sind, Zuflucht bieten sollen: widerständige, solidarische (Aus‑)Übungen einer anderen Demokratie, die Antworten auf sexualisierte und koloniale Gewalt in bestehenden Demokratien […]

What is permissible for the Israeli government to do in response to the murderous attack by Hamas? The answer to this is difficult, not only because blood is boiling and hearts are broken, but also because there is a complex moral dilemma here. In this blog, we hope to offer some guidelines to clarify the issue. We do not claim to provide definitive answers. The required analysis is complex, and it is incumbent upon the Israeli government and the IDF to ensure that the various steps taken are morally justified.

The sigh of relief was audible throughout Europe. In Brussels and other European capitals, the victory of the opposition bloc in the Polish elections sparked hope that the imminent change in government would end the illiberal course of the past. While years of democratic backsliding have left lasting marks on Poland's political and legal landscape, the newly elected government is clearly committed to leading Poland back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. However, one pertinent institutional issue remains to be resolved: the still pending procedure against Poland under Art 7 TEU.