Democracy Impacts

Muzergues: Four Social Classes Redefining Europe’s Political Fault Lines

December 12, 2019

In an Emerging Europe article, Thibault Muzergues, author of The Great Class Shift, describes the four “dominant” social classes that are now redefining Europe's political fault lines: Urban and Liberal Creatives, Suburban Middle Class, White Working Class and the Millennials, each of which can be identified with specific political movements.
Berman: NATO Needs to Address Shortcomings

December 12, 2019

In an op-ed in The Hill, Ilan Berman, Senior Vice-President of the American Foreign Policy Council, opines that NATO "is suffering from deep systemic dysfunctions," which may be exacerbated by the fact that the communique produced by the recent NATO London summit "spent precious little time discussing the real systemic problems now facing the world’s most important military bloc."
COE Secretary General Links "Populism and Radicalisation" as a Global Challenge to be Addressed by North-South Centre Membership

December 12, 2019

In a recent speech, Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić called on states from Europe and its neighboring regions to join the Council of Europe’s Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (the "North-South Centre") to better tackle global challenges such as populism and radicalization, climate change, conflict and instability and resulting migrant flows.
Italy to Make Climate Change Study Compulsory in Schools

November 06, 2019

According to Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti, next year, Italy will become the world's first country to make it compulsory for schoolchildren to study climate change and sustainable development, with traditional subjects, such as geography, mathematics, and physics, to also be studied from the perspective of sustainable development.
University of Sheffield Mandates Climate Change Curriculum

September 26, 2019

Under a new initiative at the UK's University of Sheffield, every student will be forced to attend compulsory lectures on climate change, with classes on sustainable development being placed in the curriculum of every degree.
ECJ Rejects EU Request to Expand "Right to be Forgotten" Protections

September 24, 2019

In a major victory for Google, the Court of Justice for the European Union has ruled that "right to be forgotten" online does not extend beyond the borders of the European Union, meaning that Internet search engines face no obligation to honor requests from outside the 28-country zone to delete embarrassing or outdated information.
Reno: "Transnational Utopianism" Threatens Transatlantic Alliance

September 11, 2019

R. R. Reno, editor of First Things, explains how "transnational utopianism encourages the illusion that a global system is emerging that will make national sovereignty obsolete," as it "detaches elites from the life of their nations" and seeks to produce "citizens of the world rather than national leaders."
Macron Promotes “European Renaissance” Agenda in Central and Eastern Europe

August 21, 2019

Politico.eu reports that French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting his European Renaissance agenda among liberal leaders in Central and Eastern Europe, which “consists of greater EU integration, a beef-up common defense and security policy and stronger EU presence on the international stage” and embraces “young, educated, urban, socially liberal EU enthusiasts.”
German Court Upholds ECB Supervision Authority

July 30, 2019

Deutsche Welle reports that the German Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the authorities granted to the European Central Bank (ECB) to supervise large banks and administer a fund for failing financial institutions comply with EU treaties and with the German Constitution.
EU Officials Reject Johnson’s Demands for New Brexit Deal

July 26, 2019

Bloomberg reports that EU officials, including the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, have refused to accept demands from new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to renegotiate the Brexit deal to take out the controversial “Irish backstop” provision.