Germany may now pay the price for its failures over the last six years—especially in the context of the euro crisis. In particular, in order to prevent the emergence of a “transfer union,” Germany refused to agree to a greater degree of debt mutualization. This in turn made it impossible to create a fiscal and…

The Internet is teeming with comments about the political plans of the Facebook’s owner. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg is gearing up for the 2020 presidential campaign. He will be 36 then and to compete for the US presidency you have to be 35 or older. He will not run out of money, for his fortune is…

An Interview with Joshua Kurlantzick by Maciej NowickiMost Western economists claimed that state capitalism was unable to function properly in the long run. And yet in the last 30 years it has been China and Singapore that have developed more rapidly than almost all other economies. The role played by the government in the economy…

If the question why people have been losing interest and faith in traditional media affected only journalists, it would be solely a matter for their concern. The trouble is that what we have witnessed over the past few years is a gradual transformation not only of the media landscape but also of all of society…

What is it like to be living in a world shaped by media owners and teenagers? Polarized society, in constant change, is affected by the evolution of digital technologies, berlusconization of the media, the changing social status of family, and the marketization of politics. By encouraging social reflection, young people are opening our eyes to…

If we accept the view that democracy is founded on the ability of well-informed public opinion in possession of the necessary information needed to take decisions about the fate of a political community, then we can say without fear of contradiction that in Hungary even the basic elements for the functioning of democracy are lacking.…

The disruptive power of the new media, perversely called “social,” has been building up for years. Only now the Western democracies start to understand its capacity to distort the reality. It is high time we did something about it.

The digital turn gave rumors a technological boost. It is no longer necessary to meet someone in the café and whisper things in his or her ear. The Internet combines the durability of the written word with the anonymity of oral culture. The monster thus produced has undermined the very notion of truth, replacing it…

We say Havel, we think an intellectual in politics. Against this fundamental fact the political beliefs of the author of The Power of the Powerless somehow fade into the background. It is not really necessary to know how they evolved in the course of a half-century. A much more interesting question is his involvement in…

Dear Readers, Since its establishment in 2012, the Aspen Institute in Prague has served as a regional platform for Central European countries as was referred in the title of this quarterly. Today our region needs more than ever a regional platform for non-ideological and non-partisan discussion that will cultivate inclusive debate on specific issues, facilitate…

Dariusz Rosiak, Ziarno i krew. Podróż śladami bliskowschodnich chrześcijan [Grain and blood. A journey in the footsteps of Middle East Christians], Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2015, p. 416.

François Godement, Contemporary China: Between Mao and Market, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015.

Wolfgang Streeck, How Will Capitalism End?, Verso, 2016. Paul Mason, Post-Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future, Penguin Books, 2016.

Zbig. The Strategy and Statecraft of Zbigniew Brzezinski, edited by Charles Gati, Washington, D.C. 2013.

Agnieszka Gajewska, Zagłada i gwiazdy. Przeszłość w prozie Stanisława Lema [The Holocaust and the stars. The past in Stanisław Lem’s fiction], Adam Mickiewicz University Press, Poznań 2016.

In November 2015, Piotr Gliński became deputy prime minister for cultural affairs in the government of Beata Szydło. Giving the position of deputy prime minister to the minister of culture—for the first time since 1989—was meant as a signal that PiS would treat cultural matters extremely seriously and would deal with them at the highest…

By joining the European Union the Czech Republic committed itself to, among other things, joining the eurozone, a commitment endorsed by a referendum. Holding another popular vote on the issue of joining the common currency is therefore unnecessary. What is necessary is for those responsible to decide when our country will meet this commitment. In…

Europe is witnessing the resurgence of a political grouping which according to many politicians and commentators was doomed to bureaucratic atrophy. In the 25th year of its existence the V4 attempts to play a role of a catalyst or even initiator of changes in the European rules of the game. But what is the economic…