Find Luke‘s other articles On Brussels here. It seemed as though a sense of normality was returning to the EU. In June and July, the EU was able to reopen many of its internal borders and thrash out a new budget and…
Category: Europe
Omar’s Blog: #1 Introducing Team MENA
From today on, you will be receiving new updates from a small team in the Netherlands. I am introducing you to team MENA of the Young Democrats/Jonge Democraten. The name gives away our main focus but there is much more…
Protests in Belarus: is Change Possible?
On August 9 Belarus held its Presidential elections. The first and only President of Belarus, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, claims to have won these elections with an 80% vote share against 10% for opposition candidate Tsikhanouskaya. Due to an (even for Belarus!)…
Cancel Culture in Economics?
In the rise of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests all over the globe, a great number of statues have been torn down or destroyed. From Edward Colston over Christopher Columbus to Winston Churchill, a wide range of historical figures have…
Putin: President for Life?
A controversial referendum was held in Russia from 25 June to 1 July 2020 that brings sweeping changes to the constitution, including an amendment that allows Vladimir Putin to run for two more presidential terms – which could keep him…
Democracy in Turkey – After all this time? Always…
Upon the municipal re-election of Istanbul, in which the main opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu won a landslide victory following the cancellation of the first one, following absurd allegations over the legitimacy of the first election in Istanbul by Erdogan’s Justice…
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On Brussels: All Eyes on Poland
Find Luke‘s other articles On Brussels here. On 28 June, the EU got to enjoy a rare moment of optimism. Poland’s ultra-conservative head of state Andrzej Duda failed to secure an outright win in the first round of the country’s…
Corona Cancelled Exchange
“It’s not possible to return to the summer when you are 17. Celebrating graduation cannot be played on repeat.”, the Norwegian health minister said in a widely shared speech to our youth during corona, a speech in which he thanks…
Learning about Civic Spaces — Online?!
Usually, Shrinking Civic Spaces seem like the perfect seminar topic to discuss on the ground — to visit said spaces and meet people in person. IFLRY was all set to do that, but then Covid-19 hit. The pandemic forced the…
What our Colonial Past Teaches us about Privilege
This article is probably one of the most challenging ones I have ever written. The killing of George Floyd at the end of May made me speechless. Seeing pictures of a man, desperately begging for help, fighting for his life,…
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