On 29 October the Republic of Turkey – initiated and founded by the visionary M. Kemal Atatürk and the leaders of the national liberation and reform movement – celebrates its centenary. The country, however, has unfortunately reached a crossroads. Envisioned by Atatürk as a sovereign, independent, democratic, secular and republican country belonging to the Western […]
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The Republic of Turkey is poised to mark its centennial on 29 October 2023, yet a palpable air of celebration appears conspicuously absent. While flags and posters dot the landscape, a handful of corporations are unveiling previously commissioned commemorative videos, and a select few musicians are debuting compositions in honour of the occasion, the prevailing […]
The mass attack by Hamas from the Gaza Strip to Israel, and Israel’s collective revenge-oriented response to it, offers an appropriate and timely case study to re-visit Turkey’s role in ‘the region’ by exposing its real constraints. It shows a certain mindset that when one speaks of ‘the region’, one does not think of the […]
Switzerland has long been considered a laboratory for partisan trends in Europe. As election results here are less influenced by the dynamics of government and opposition than it is the case elsewhere, they reflect more closely the social shifts in the electorates and their attitudes. Thus, the transformation of the political system in Switzerland in […]
The outcome of the Swiss federal elections is characterised by a relative stability typical of the Swiss political system. However, the Swiss parliament shifts further to the right. Within the red-green bloc, the Social Democratic Party made gains, while the Greens suffered significant losses. Unfortunately, no hopeful future perspective is apparent. The winner of the […]
With the initial exit polls of the Polish parliamentary elections reaching the public at home and abroad, many took to social media to speak about the ‘return of democracy’. However, in the aftermath of 15 October, anyone seeing the seat distribution should refrain from pairing the noun ‘democracy’ with the adjectives ‘social’ or ‘young’. With […]
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