Ukraine

Ukrainian women have become indispensable in national defense and resilience, reshaping gender norms and taking on critical roles. Without direct support for local women’s groups, their impact risks being undermined by structural exclusion.

Populist authoritarians have recast themselves as champions of peace. Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, Robert Fico, and others argue that standing up to aggressors only prolongs conflict – they’re wrong. 

Instruction has been pared to the basics in everything from combined arms to officer training.

Ukraine is holding pilot renewable energy auctions on Thursday (31 October) to attract investments in decentralized power generation, but high debt and a lack of trust in state payments are threatening any fast build-out.

As part of an EU Democracy research project funded by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union office, Sophie Pornschlegel interviewed European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, during the summer break of the European Commission. In their conversation, Vice-President Jourová reflected on five years of efforts to safeguard democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the EU, amid increasing threats against democracy and a shifting geopolitical context, not least due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. 

In May 2024, Desiree Winns joined students from around the world in Athens, Greece to present to the International Association of Political Science Students (IAPSS) World Congress research on AI in Russian disinformation. This is an edited excerpt of her research.

Timothy Garton Ash is one of the greatest political voices in Europe. In his latest book “Homelands,” he tells the story of how Europe emerged from the ravages of war in 1945, recovered, rebuilt, and moved towards the ideal of a Europe that is “whole, free, and at peace” ‒ until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A conversation with Roderick Kefferpütz about shattered illusions, the war in Ukraine, democratic backsliding, and the fight for freedom.

EU nukes, EU army, EU Defence Commissioner – the debate on European security and defence is heating up. It feels like every week a new political proposal is made. So we asked three questions to Sara Nanni, Member of the German Bundestag and the Green parliamentary group’s spokesperson on defence policy, on how she views the latest developments.