Voters in the predominantly Dutch-speaking Belgian region of Flanders are often assumed to be more conservative than those in predominantly French-speaking Wallonia. Yet as Daan Delespaul shows, there is reason to question whether the two regions constitute distinct political worlds. The structure of western European party systems has long been shaped by sticky political divides … Read more
Hungary is often portrayed as a problem case for European integration due to frequent clashes between Viktor Orbán’s government and the EU’s institutions. Yet as András Bíró-Nagy and Gergő Medve-Bálint explain, the country’s 20 years in the EU have also seen a relatively high level of compliance with EU policies and strong support for membership … Read more
The Maastricht Treaty formally created the concept of citizenship of the European Union, based upon holding the nationality of a Member State. Now provided for in Article 20 TFEU, EU citizenship includes the right for EU citizens to vote in municipal and European Parliament elections in a Member State other than that of their nationality … Read more
This year was billed as “the year of elections” due to the number of major elections taking place across the world. Michael Cox writes that while many of these elections have been turbulent affairs, we should not forget that democracy, warts and all, remains the political system of choice for most countries in the world … Read more
Extreme weather events like flooding and wildfires are often cited as evidence of the need to tackle climate change. But do these events lead to real political change? Drawing on a new study covering nine European countries, Tim Wappenhans, António Valentim, Heike Klüver and Lukas Stoetzer find no evidence of a shift in the political … Read more
