March 13, 2024
Estonia is the first country in the world that appointed a female president and a female prime minister. Since the previous PM Juri Ratas from the Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond) resigned after a corruption scandal, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid (Independent) appointed Kaja Kallas from the Reform party (Reformierakond) as the first female to be PM in Estonia. So, what can we expect from the new coalition government that was formed in January?
A political as much as a health issue, vaccination becomes a by-product of Brexit, puts the EU at odds with developing countries and sees China and India compete in Asia. Inexhaustible disruptor, Covid-19 continues to advance science, in its multiple disciplines. At lightning speed, geopolitics was enriched with a new object of analysis, and the power of a new instrument: the vaccine. A year after the start of the pandemic, the vaccine is the most contested political weapon.
The scale of the threat directly diminishing biodiversity and causing climate crisis is much greater than what it is currently believed to be. An incisive report published recently in Frontiers in Conservation Science by 17 world-leading scientists paints a harrowing picture of what awaits civilization if immediate action is not taken.
In recent years, preserving the single market through competition rules has come to the fore due to increasing foreign competition. In the context of merger control, the planned takeover of the French firm Alstom by the German company Siemens has given rise to a debate. The European Commission’s prohibition of the merger raised two particular questions this analysis seeks to answer while looking at proposed amendments to the merger rules.
The second World War’s devastation and consequent nuclear threat prompted Western sovereign states to move towards cooperation, leading to the rise of liberalism as a different interpretation of international relations. Institutions such as the UN, the EU, the NATO or the World Bank all shared the necessity of reforming the international towards a more global dimension. Although “international” and “global” are two distinct concepts with different contextual backgrounds, they keep influencing one another and are both present in today’s world.
The previous year 2020 was a year of stagnation for many industries worldwide, including the construction industry and thus, Poland was no exception. As the New Year is starting and medical developments are aiding the society in battling the coronavirus, the Polish construction sector seeks to recover through new investments, aided by the EU 2021-2017 Budget. While the establishment of new projects brings many new themes and hopes, it also reawakens old issues and concerns, one of them being the displacement of people.
This in-depth study analyzes the South African Apartheid’s historical and socio-linguistic dimension. The segregation operated by Apartheid followed the path of a dictatorial system, while language control allowed the segregationist regime to exclude people of colour from the country political and economic life. This is well-reported within the framework of the educational policies and the deliberately racist media propaganda operated at the time.
This analysis draws on the arguments of feminist scholars to explore the complex role of women in African post-flag societies, and in particular the strategic use of hetero-patriarchal narratives by different African governments for the purpose of nation and state-building. The article shows how African ethno-nationalisms and militarised practices of state-building heavily benefit from the oppression of women and the control of women’s bodies.
Building sustainable support for any “Big Science” project encounters several key challenges. Beyond the socio-economic impact, how public investments in such large-scale science megaprojects can tackle the present global inequalities should also be analysed. The European Spallation Source (ESS), under construction on the outskirts of Lund, Sweden, presents an ideal case to evaluate the challenges in designing a sustainable research infrastructure in Europe.
For weeks, we have watched with concern the battle of Trump and his supporters, trying to overturn the election result of November 3, 2020. American democracy, which had been under pressure over the past four years under President Trump, is in danger amidst recent developments.
