Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History
By Lenka Bydžovská The sociologist and cultural historian Derek Sayer’s books on Czech history and art are characterized by their wittingly provocative titles, which refer to classic works. Sayer borrows the title The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History (1998)…
When One Religious Extremism Unmasks Another
Johan van der Walt The resort to states of emergency in response to Islamic extremism reveals Europe’s own Ordo-Liberal extremism. Philosopher and legal theorist Professor Johan van der Walt argues that this form of governance, based on fundamentalist market moralism,…
Sascha Engel on “Germany”, Asset Class Contagion, and Contagious Stability”
This paper reverses the order in which the Eurozone crisis is usually examined. Rather than a crisis of sovereign debt, caused by profligate peripheral governments and rectified by virtuous thrifty Germans, Latvians and Finns, I argue that the origin of…
Despite the Paris Attacks, Europe’s Refugee Crisis is an Opportunity to Confront the Past
By Rachel Epstein The plight of refugees arriving in Europe has been grim, and it could get grimmer if Europeans interpret the attacks on Paris as having resulted from the European Union’s asylum policies. Refugees have been exposed to the…
Disappearing Yerevan
This guest post was written by David Rypel. Even though Yerevan is said to be 29 years older than Rome, it is difficult to find any parts of the old city that predate modern constructions. There are, of course, some…
A Migrant’s Story
Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Tallis for Reporter Magazine I am a foreigner. A migrant. I live and work in Prague, the city that has become my adopted home. No one forced me to come here, nor even invited me – I decided to come here myself….
Russia and the World 2015: IMEMO Forecast
In the final issue of our predecessor journal (Perspectives: Review of International Affairs – 02/2014), we published an abridged version of the Russian think tank IMEMO’s annual ‘Russia and the World’ forecast. This was the first time that any version…
Nanovo: From the Cosy Dens of Another Time
‘Who could possibly want such things?” Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Tallis’ latest piece for Torn Curtain looks at communist era domestic design and the politics of material memory in the Czech Republic. Focusing on the Nanovo furniture company, which rescues and restores…
A Symposium on the Crisis in Ukraine
It’s been well over a year since Russia annexed Crimea, and the cease-fire agreed at Minsk for the fate of war-torn Eastern Ukraine from February 2015 is in tatters. With the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day having just…
Capitalisms in Central Europe: Local Solutions to Local Problems?
Capitalisms in Central Europe: Local Solutions to Local Problems? A recent book highlights the role of the state in creating the different varieties of capitalism that can be seen in the region. Even if the majority of the world population…
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