More and more citizens have come to doubt that their representatives decide for the “right thing”. Their mistrust towards the state is growing. Does the need for direct political participation demand a new version of democracy?
Recent Entries
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“The cold has its advantages.”
When winters last for six months and 20 below zero is normal, then life takes place indoors. The Hamburg photographer André Lützen documented the lives of people in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk. In his series “Inside/Out” he shows the effects of extreme climate on everyday life.
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Borderless
What has become of border crossings after the Schengen Agreement? The photographer Martin Sigmund went on a journey through Europe and portrayed border posts which, after the abolition of identity checks, seem like relics of a bygone era – abandoned, pointless, uninhabited.
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Rituals in Communities
Rituals are one of the most important practices that produce, maintain and change communities. In their absence, there would be neither cohesiveness nor a social dimension – both fundamental needs of human beings. Particularly by means of inclusion and exclusion, rituals form communities and found their identity.
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“The other is no longer seen as a human being.”
For the second time in the history of France’s Fifth Republic, a right-wing extremist presidential candidate has made it into the run-off election. The political scientist Alfred Grosser sees parallels to the American election campaign, criticizes the constant finger-pointing at others of National Front politicians, and is certain who the next president will be.
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EU and UNASUR – Two Blocks with Expandable Relationships
The European Economic Community (EEC), a precursor of the European Union (EU), was founded with the signing of the Treaty of Rome on24 March 1957. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the integration process, it is time to take a look at the EU’s relations with other parts of the world, in particular with the Union of South American Nation (UNASUR).
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Mobility, Exchange and Sustainability
“Someone who goes on a journey has a story to tell.” This simple statement by the late eighteenth-century German poet Matthias Claudius defines the value of mobility. Migration, however, is a very different prospect to a journey, while an opportunity to have a story to tell does not suffice when we note that the sustainability of whole societies can be at stake.