Tag: politics

Posted on

Polarized Elections

In an electoral system which has been built on single step majority voting, there is a tendency to end up with rather polarized elections. The USA has majority voting in both houses and a polarized, dyadic, either Democrat (blue) or Republican (red) candidate’s choice. As there are no other major political, there is definitely a majority and a minority, but other political ideas do not gain any visibility or significant influence in this electoral system. The amount of non-voters is a critical mass which can be difficult to interest in such simplified dual choices. Moving from a kind of black or white, blue or red voting system to a more colorful spectrum of votes and coalition building has the advantage to allow a broader choice candidates and less back and forth polarization. More polarized elections, where parties try to win more votes on the more extreme ends of the political spectrum bear the risk to split societies more and more. In the long run electoral systems should be build to bring societies together rather than to deepen splits. Moving beyond binary choices has certain advantages.

Posted on

Swing or Flip

With the voting in mid-term elections of the US Congress and Senate being counted, we notice a shift in the language of the commentators. Whereas in previous elections of the Houses it was common to use the term “swing states” for a federal state that changed its majority from Democrats (blue) to Republicans (red), the 2026-11-3 elections referred to “flipped states”. What’s the significance of this? The metaphor of a “swing” assumes a kind of alternation of back and forth movements, which can be associated with a state changing political colors from election to the other. The metaphor of the “flip” might be associated more with the “flip side” of a piece of paper or a record. You might prefer the titles on one side more than the others. In the 2026-11-3 elections Democrats managed to turn long-standing Republic states (Kansas, Ohio) to vote for Democrats. They managed to captured dissatisfied or betrayed former Republican voters and thereby flipped states that have long traditions to vote Republican. Actually, these flipped states were turned into swing states which they have not been for many decades as the swing had been blocked on the Republican’s side.

Republican-or-Democrat-suit-2026-11-3
Republican-or-Democrat-suit-2026-11-3
Posted on

Splendid Isolation Iceland

In international politics the term “splendid isolation” refers to the British diplomacy of the 19th century to keep Great Britain out of the power struggles across Europe and as a separate force. Maybe the Brexit in the 21st century can be figured in terms of  a return to the ideal of a splendid isolation, despite the close economic links and joint democratic heritage since the 2WW.
Iceland had a referendum on opening EU-accession talks which it dismissed by 53% against to 47% in favor. As with the Brexit vote, countries rarely vote similar in all regions. Therefore, it is no surprise that an even larger majority of the population of Reykjavik voted in favor, but the 2/3 of the population living in rural areas, many related to the fishing industries, rejected the prospects of EU-integration. As a member of the EEA Iceland is already part of the more economic aspects of the EU, but a strong isolationist and independent diplomatic stance dominated. Sometimes it takes a generational change before the prospects for younger generations are taken into account in politics.

splendid-isolation-in-Paris-2026-10
splendid-isolation-in-Paris-2026-10
Posted on

Systems of thinking

The translation of the title of the “chair” created for Michel Foucault at the “College de France” sounds rather all encompassing. He worked during the years 1970-1984 at the institute, which were particularly innovative in terms of new concepts to look at society. With the massive protests of students in the streets of Paris in 2026-10, the exhibition of Foucault’s life course, his major contributions, legacy and audio-visual material are presented in a small exhibition. Foucault was one of the social scientists who had a research interest in the student protests of 1968 already.
In the exhibition it is possible to inspect central pages of the hand-written originals of some of his lectures. In the late 60s and 70s tape recording became feasible and such recordings helped to spread his ideas quickly. As Foucault was a master of contextualisation of societal procedures, like for example imprisonment, the curators of the exhibition present a few samples of Foucault’s own library (image below) and examples of correspondence with his network of social scientists, like Roland Barthes or Raymond Aron. In 2026 the thoughts on “gouvernementalité” (own translation “governability”) still speak to current politics. That is a great half-life-value of social thought.

Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
Posted on

Mitterrand literary

François Mitterrand is well remembered for his polititical leadership and of 14 years at the Presidency of France. He left behind a legacy of architectural highlights of which the 4 open books as the modern world idea about a cathedral size public library. The prolongation of the “Axe historique” to “La Défense” originated also in Mitterrand’s first term in office. However, only few would know about the literary ambitions and accomplishments of François Mitterrand. The Institut François Mitterrand organized a conference on the literary achievements of Mitterrand an his eloquent style and careful editing of speeches, his letters and journal writing (2026-10-16). The expert panel highlighted the literary sources of Mitterrand’s own reading and references to authors like Zola, Camus, Proust, Stendhal, Blum, Jaurès, Chateaubriand or also the letters of Simone de Beauvoir, to name but a few. The appreciation of the politician François Mitterrand by a German language author (Kimmel 2022) allows to get more familiar with an “external view” of a great politician, who ensured that also the enlarged Europe would still have a solid French foundation. Merci. Maybe Mitterrand has been the founder of a “literary leadership style”. Possibly in close resemblance to the antique or Roman vision to have philosophers as states(wo)man.

Institut François Mitterrand colloque 2026-10-16 Paris BNF
Institut François Mitterrand colloque 2026-10-16 Paris BNF
Posted on

Self-publishing as resistance

Self-publishing has been the title of a historical account of the Czech publishing since the Nazi occupation of Czechia since 1939 (mfk-frankfurt.de). Forced into exile or clandestine underground publishing, many publishers and authors had no other option than to go it by themselves. The underground press during the Soviet union dominated communist rule in Czechia had to rely on similar methods, since censorship as well as persecution were a consequence of illegal writing and publishing activities. In the 21st century self-publishing has become much easier, but the persecution even beyond national borders continues to be a threat in many parts of the world.
Platforms that enable a visibility beyond publishing houses and institutional support broaden the scope for authors to reach various audiences as part of  democracy’s vitality and preparedness. Who knows about the grip on publishing of authoritarian and autocratic regimes in advance and their thirst to curb alternative opinions? Historical evidence points to the need to have self-publishing and publishing in exile as an important additional defence mechanism of democracies (Image: Czechia pavilion at Frankfurt book fair 2026)

Czechia pavilion Frankfurt book fair publishing 2026
Czechia pavilion Frankfurt book fair publishing 2026
Posted on

Hybrid publishing threat

For decades there have been strong initiatives which defended the freedom of expression. Historically, the press and book publishing have a pretty long track record. The IPA Freedom of Expression Defenders Award has been inaugurated at the Frankfurt book fair #fbm26 on 2026-10-8 with much acclaim. The challenges of the freedom to publish are on the rise again as many countries tackle these freedoms as part of the rise of authoritarian governance. Democratic countries, however, have to live up to the challenges that publishing, as part of the whole media world, has been included into a kind of hybrid way of influencing and even hybrid warfare. AI is a dangerous 2-sided sword in this endeavor as well. The publishing sector starts to address the issue, but finding a consensus seems rather time consuming. Foster alliances before it is too late to regulate, build and strengthen defenses. 

IPA award 2026

 

Posted on

Solution problem

We all tend to agree that if there is a problem we shall try to find a solution. Once we seem to have the solution, after a lot of time has elapsed. we no longer sure what the original problem was. It may turn out that the solution shall be in search for a problem it still fits. Listening to the speeches at the UN General Assembly in 2026-9 there are still many problems the UN can address and is the solution or at least part of the solution. However, there are many problems on earth, the institutional setup of the UN no longer fits (The responsibility to protect is one of the discussed problems, Brunnée &Toope 2008).
The UN Security Council with its split into permanent members, with veto powers, and 10 elected other members is an example where a previous solution to the post 2WW international conflicts was a legitimate working solution, but the 21st century’s crises asks for new solutions and arenas for negotiations, which take into account a wider spectrum of countries and topics in a multipolar world. Middle powers shall have to take more active roles within or beyond the current UN institutions. 

Many Kites flying on a beach festival 2026-9

Posted on

News impact democracy

The reporting on news in the media can be highly influential on election outcomes and therefore democracy. Bias in coverage of news arises from mainly 2 sources: (1) topics covered as opposed to the ones neglected, (2) the framing of the news which fit into a broader political narrative. A robust scientific analysis of the topic is difficult as the amount of data (articles, headlines, appearances) can be rather large. The paper by Haider et al. (2026) accomplished a major step forward through the systematic treatment of “selection bias” in news coverage. Related to news coverage, selection bias has both a statistical as well as a substantive meaning. The substantive finding of selection bias refers to the fact that the print media studied tend to prefer “horse race stories to policy issues” in upcoming elections, i. e. the focus on opposing candidates rather than the underlying policy choices. The negativity bias in reporting remains another constant in media research. 

chewing horse in Chantilly box

Posted on

Emotional paradox

Democracies face an intrinsic paradox. High aspirations before inauguration, rising negative emotions during polarizing democratic periods and high positive emotions towards democracy after the loss of major components of it. However, This constitutes a working hypothesis in need of further research of its historical validity. Some active defendants of democracy have organized already sessions to speak about emotions in democracy. On the occasion of the International Day of Democracy a local initiative in Berlin (Mutwerk) took up this topic and brought together representatives of many local initiatives to foster the wealth of positive emotions due to democratic rule in southern Berlin. (Image: Public library Berlin Steglitz democracy day 2026-9-14)

Public library Berlin Steglitz democracy day 2026