One of the most striking things revealed by a thorough examination of Egypt’s current political developments must be the meteoric rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, a distinctive movement which is undoubtedly the precursor of many more recent Islamic groupings.

The recent political developments in Romania could be a lesson in the dynamics of EU democracy at a time when the EU is struggling with new nationalisms and democratic deficit—if the EU is not too busy with eurozone stability, to the detriment of quality of governance.

In the 1990s, the European Union was perceived as the champion of the Bulgarian people against local lords. In the last decade though, both European and local politicians seem to be part of the same establishment, acting against the ordinary man.

An Interview with Paolo Flores d’Arcais by Maciej NowickiBecause of corruption and tax evasion the national budget loses 150–180 billion euro a year—says the Italian philosopher and essayist Paolo Flores d’Arcais interviewed by Maciej Nowicki.

The current crisis of democracy is not an outcome of some institutional failure of democracy; on the contrary, it is a product of democracy’s success. It is the result of five revolutions that have shattered our world in the last 50 years and made us more free.

The bold French leadership in Mali in response to Islamist terrorism illustrates an interesting phenomenon: US-European relations are moving towards almost a reverse of the old division over the Iraq war. Whereas a decade ago the United States demonstrated bold leadership in addressing global security concerns, U.S. leadership today has become overly cautious, if not…

An Interview with Francis Fukuyama by Maciej NowickiWhile private companies are constantly changing, experimenting with new forms of organisation, the American government is simply archaic, it has frozen in a bureaucratic hierarchy. How is the White House to deal with big business when it is less efficient—says the world famous political scientists Francis Fukuyama in…

Britain’s departure from the EU grows ever more likely. David Cameron, the prime minister, wants Britain to stay in. But he seems set on a path that could lead to an exit. British withdrawal requires two conditions to be satisfied. First, the government of the day must call a referendum on whether to leave the…

Usually it is smaller nations that break loose from large empires and supranational states to go their own way. The separation of Czechoslovakia in 1990–1992 is a rather untypical case.

“Svoboda” party’s approach to ethnic relations has been termed fascist, but in point of fact it is strikingly similar to official policy in Estonia, Latvia, and Israel.

Fidesz successfully reconstructed the centre-right around its core ideas of conservatism and Christian Democracy, solidarity, family, nationhood and statehood.

A word about what kept the Habsburg monarchy together, what actually brought it apart, and what this might mean for the European Union.

A Polish diplomat recently said: “The question of sovereignty today does not mean waving about your saber and constitution but preventing a situation where Poland would have no influence on the direction of changes which the EU centre is now deciding on.” And a government minister added: “This is the last EU budget from which…

George Friedman, Następna dekada. Translation by Monika Wyrwas-Wiśniewska Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2012

Jacques Sapir, Faut-il sortir de l’euro?, Seuil, 2012

Michael Lewis, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World. W.W. Norton & Co., 2011

Tomáš Sedláček, Ekonomia dobra i zła. Studio EMKA 2011

Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism. Basic Books, 2012