The European Magazine

Argentina, Bolivia, Egypt: Countries around the world embrace resource nationalism and pursue the nationalization of oil and gas companies. Even in the age of globalization, nationalistic mercantilism still lurks deep in the shadows of geopolitics.

The Argentinean president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's nationalization of the Spanish oil company Repsol might...

When we look at prayer through the lens of neuroscience, we can make an interesting observation: Talking to God is not really different from talking to one's friends and neighbors.

Praying is in many ways a fascinating phenomenon. To the believer it is a direct method for communicating with God,...

By Stefano Casertano

The first incarnation of French President Nicholas Sarkozy was that of a polished Parisian Silvio Berlusconi. The stint was evident in Sarkozy's excessive public performances, like his Egyptian vacation in December 2008, when he wore sunglasses that would have been better placed at the front...

Downtown Moscow is currently experiencing a constant stream of pro- and anti-Putin protests. On Monday, it's Election Day in Russia, and this is the final stretch of the race. In the West, we were impressed by the tens of thousands of Russian protesters who braced the icy cold on Christmas...

by Stefano Casertano

The events of the last two years in the Middle East are a reminder of what happened in the same region some 40 years ago. Then, as monarchies were toppled one after the other, new leftist leaders assumed office through coups, popular revolts, or simply by taking...

by Richard Gowan (European Council on Foreign Relations)

The Iraq war will haunt not only U.S. policy-makers but also their European counterparts for years. The main players in the debate over the war -- Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder -- all lost power years ago. But the divisions...

By Alan Sked

Thus far, I was convinced the the EU requires a democratic revolution if ordinary voters were expected to back the structural reforms needed to save the euro. However, perhaps predictably, the remedies being discussed by the elite are all designed to bypass the democratic process. The richer...

By Lane Crothers

The United States' position as the leading maker of global culture has been basically unchallenged for the last century or so, especially in the Western world. Yet the economic power of the Western world is waning even as new nations, with new models of economic and social...

by Yascha Mounk

The U.S. has until August 2 to raise its debt ceiling. If negotiations fail, Washington might soon resemble Athens. And an agreement is looking increasingly unlikely.

As little as a week ago, a real compromise seemed within reach. Barack Obama and John Boehner seemed close to agreeing...

By Alexander Görlach

Egypt has moved beyond the Arab spring. Cairo, Tahrir Square -- it is as if nothing has happened. The traffic is moving slowly, the air is polluted, the roads are dirty. And this year, Ramadan coincides with the hottest time of the year in August. Public life...

By Ralph Martin

In recent news coverage of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, German newspapers and television portrayed the world as a very bleak place, one that Germans would nonetheless protect themselves against by divesting from nuclear power. In America, however, the world went on as usual, with heroes fighting against...

By Cornelius Adebahr, Niklas Niemann and Marcel Viëtor

Following the earthquake and the nuclear catastrophe in Japan, a state of shock, intuitive defensiveness and frantic political activity of those in charge of utility companies as well as in governments across Europe are more than understandable reactions. Nevertheless, they are not...

By Alexander Goerlach
The European Magazine

The Mediterranean Sea was a homogenous region during the reign of the Roman Empire. Interactions between Europe and the North African countries became even more pronounced with the spread of Christianity along the Roman road networks in the first few centuries A.D. Ultimately,...

On the web, stories that are repeated often enough can come to be seen as facts. There is a rumor implying that Facebook, Twitter, blogs and various other social media channels help to ensure a freer world. They help us to keep a close eye on the powerful and enable...