For Borges the library was the universe. It symbolized infinity, confusion, chaos, it was impenetrable. You moved around it like through a maze—alone until you died. At the same time, for the Argentinian writer the library was eternal. “The library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, armed with precious volumes, indestructible, mysterious,” he wrote.…

What should be the role of libraries in a society where, on the one hand, many people carry access to worldwide knowledge in their pockets and, on the other hand, there are communities suffering not only from social but also information exclusion? Libraries seek answers to that around the world, including the Czech Republic. And…

What if journalism were football or ice hockey? Then small nations would stand a chance from time to time. There would be a Jaromír Jágr, the global hockey star born in Central Bohemia. There would be a Robert Lewandowski, the fabulous striker for Polish national team and Bayern Munich, the Treasure of Bavaria. On occasion…

Poles seem to like the new government more than the liberal mainstream would like them to. How is it possible?

The Brexit vote was evidently not just about immigration. But if there is a paramount reason for Britain’s shock decision to leave the European Union, it is the seething discontent of a large slice of the public, created by 20 years of historically unprecedented immigration levels and the insouciant response of the political class to…

While Britain’s economy has many longstanding weaknesses, it has had three huge strengths: a flexible labor market, an open economy, and an unrivalled legal and political stability. The Brexit vote jeopardizes all three.

The economic factors underlying Nord Stream 2 are even more interesting than the legal hurdles and, surprisingly enough, less often taken into consideration.

Two of the least inspiring, most unpopular US presidential candidates in … just how many years? To find candidates this weak we might have to go back as far as the 1850s, when Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore stood for the country’s highest office. And although both went on to become presidents, they are justly…

The Intermarium is a flagship concept of the Law and Justice Party. However, PiS has no monopoly here. What exactly does this concept mean and what arguments support it?

Populism is deeply rooted in Austria’s political tradition, going back to the time of the Habsburg monarchy. Austrian populists targeted the Jews, and later foreigners or Muslims. Nowadays their main targets are the refugees and European integration.

Victor Orbán claims that Europe, lacking the capacity to defend itself, is doomed to collapse politically and can disappear culturally and ethnically. His recipe for preventing it is simple and attractive for many: give back the power to the Member States, defend the borders from the Big Muslim Invasion, and re-establish the traditional values of…

The 15th of July 2016 will join the collection of dates that stand for Turkey’s momentous turning points in recent history. Many of them are in fact military coups. What this botched coup attempt means for Turkey, for Europe, and the wider world, and which developments it is likely to trigger is far less certain.

Whoever believes in the miraculous power of institutional reform of the European Union as an antidote to the ills of Europe, he completely misunderstands the lesson of Brexit. The key dispute today does not concern EU powers, but the model of society in which we live.

Our problem with the radically unexpected stems from the fact that we only have the tools of the expected to deal with it. “The mind can never foresee its own advance,” wrote Friedrich von Hayek without necessarily equating advance with progress. This unavoidable limitation of our predictive powers may be one explanation why experts often…

An Interview with Michael D’Antonio by Maciej NowickiVoters are not in the least bit interested whether he is right or not. They want him to give them their true emotions. This pattern has been described by child psychologists. If a bully appears in any given group, most kids will side with him—says Michael D’Antonio in…

Central European politicians who want to appear modern and forward-thinking pepper their speeches with the term “innovation.” Yet both for them and for their audiences the term fails to conjure up something specific, freshly emerged from a lab or a research center. Even fewer people are aware of the fact that it’s one thing to…

The “new member states”, being further from the technological frontier, must make additional effort to prepare for the digital revolution in order to remain in the game. A passive stance may lead to losing economic significance, as the former engines of convergence: the relatively cheap labor force and the European integration are not enough to…

What is the best environment for innovation? Many will now think of Silicon Valley and similar ecosystems for high-tech advancements. Although such clusters are perfectly fitted to nourish creative destruction, there is yet another way of nurturing innovation. It is the imaginary laboratory of a science fiction artist.