Dual citizenship has become a method of expressing one’s complex identity and acts as a marker of an individual’s transnational ties and a diverse background. These differences should be celebrated as it brings diversity into the societies we live in.
Editorial: Identity
A discussion around identity is necessary to better understand current affairs from a broader perspective and to articulate effective responses to the issues presenting themselves at this momentous time.
Eco-fascism: Its roots and contemporary reach within the extreme right
Within the “crisis in liberal democracy” of the past decade, two issues that have been detrimental: climate change and right-wing extremism (Forchtner, 2019, 11). Interestingly, a small, albeit growing, number of people are seeking to combine the two – they are right-wing extremist preoccupied with environmentalist concerns. Yet right-wing extremist environmentalism, or eco-fascism, is overlooked…
Reinforcing the Political Red Lines of a Green New Deal
In delineating between the moral necessity to take practical action in light of our global climate crisis and the strategic considerations of political parties seeking to secure the support of voters, it can be concluded that the premise of a “Green New Deal” (GND) is far from guaranteed. This is true on both sides of…
Climate Justice: Human Rights on a Planet in Distress
An increasing number of individuals around the world are taking action to fight against climate change. In most occasions, protesters and activists have stressed the tight link between the environmental threats we are facing today and human rights. The observable damage to specific ecosystems and to the planet as a whole has indeed repeatedly revealed…
Can Climate Change Explain the Cause of War?
Throughout history, many scholars have tried explaining the causes of war. Thucydides, an Athenian historian, argued that war is caused when a traditional great power feels threatened by the emergence of a new rival power, whilst Clausewitz, the foremost military theorist, asserted that war is caused by a states’ pursuit of national interests. But looking…
Judicial Review in the Time of Climate Change
In the age of the Anthropocene, where human activity threatens to change irreparably the environment in which we live, there exist serious challenges to the traditional law-making techniques of the liberal democratic state. While not strictly confined to climate change, these challenges apply acutely to that phenomenon. Indeed, climate change is the biggest threat of…
The (real) price of affordable sustainability, a tale from crowded Colombian buses
Bogota is regarded by international institutions – particularly the World Bank – as a pioneer in the development of green, low-cost, urban transportation networks, thanks to its innovative Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. However, rising transport prices regularly encourage street protests, with many Bogotanese demanding the construction of a rail network to properly meet the transportation needs of the capital.
DiCaprio, Fonda & Co: The celebritization of environmental politics
“Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating”. This moving call for action comes unexpectedly not from a scientist or from a politician, but from actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who delivered a compelling speech on the…
“Greenwashing” : the story of sustainable / environmental propaganda
Although proliferation of environmental claims appears to be great news at first sight, the lack of accuracy of among those is absolutely alarming. As discussed here, the most profitable companies are being accused of greenwashing, regardless of the level of harm their industry is causing to the environment.
Editorial: Climate Change
“The last five years have been the hottest ever recorded. Sea levels are at the highest in human history (…). The point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and is hurtling towards us” In a recent press conference ahead of the COP25 presided by Chile in Madrid (2…
European Migrant Repatriation and Rhetoric: How Institutional Language Hides Complexity
In European migration policy, at the nexus of sustainable thinking and institutional limitations, the practice of repatriating migrants has emerged as one of the most widespread practices to outweigh migrant inflows. Brought on by a late modern rhetoric of ‘migrant crisis’ and ‘social unrest’, policymakers in European states and at the level of the EU…
Can we achieve security through development aid? The case of the US and Mexico
Many of us today believe that development aid is an honourable pursuit stemming from pure intentions, and I will admit: that may very well be the case. But I would like to introduce the (potentially cynical) idea that development idea has been instrumentalised by countries for reasons that are not so much related to development…
The Dublin Regulation, A Nightmare for Asylum Seekers
The Dublin regulation poses fundamental issues: it is an unfair system that has been recognized as widely inefficient by the Member states. Most importantly, it endangers asylum seekers and facilitates infringement of their basic human rights.
2020 Tokyo Olympics: A Case Study in the Japanese Migration Problem
One issue that is becoming increasingly salient is migration in all its forms. Historically, Japan has been averse to letting migrants in and the legacies of this mindset are becoming evident. During the first round of ticket sales for the Olympics, 70% of tickets for the events were reserved to Japanese residents. International applications had to be made via your country’s national olympic committee later that month.
Den of Thieves or Family Neighborhood? the Cost of Vilifying Refugee Communities
‘Exarcheia, Europe’s largest anarchist neighborhood based in central Athens, has become one of the most vilified neighborhoods in the West. Upon the recent election of a new anti-immigration prime minister, places like Exarcheia, that hold more refugees in a few blocks than enter the United States in a calendar year, find themselves increasingly endangered. Are…
The Fate of the Pacific Island-States (or What Happens When Nation-States are Wiped Off the Face of the Earth)
the idea of a state physically disappearing might become a reality in the near future. Were a Pacific island-state to physically disappear, would it be able to survive without territory?
Mediterranean Sea Rescue and the Denial of Responsibility: Symptoms of the European Border Problem
Until this moment, the outsourcing of the border control has often allowed the EU to avoid the legal responsibilities that would arise according to international law. On top of that, the creation of a hostile environment for humanitarian NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea has created a de facto ‘dead zone’
The Rohingya Crisis: Long Forgotten yet Far From Solved
The most crucial question then appears to be: why has nobody intervened yet? In international relations, allies are extremely crucial in moments of crisis or war and Myanmar has very powerful ones: China and India.
Turning Challenge into Opportunity: The Upcoming Bangladeshi Climate Migration Crisis
It is prone to floods and droughts in the lowlands and storm ravages on the coastlines. This combination of vulnerability and threats could make climate change the country’s number-one driver of internal migration.
Opinion: Australia’s dirty secret
On the global stage Australia is morally righteous, condemning breaches of human rights worldwide, yet domestically they are guilty of breaching those very same rights themselves, creating a hypocritical situation.
Editorial: Migration
In contemporary debate, it seems that little subjects are as misunderstood as migration. While people often misjudge its scale and definition, such differences often lead to actors holding divergent views on how to address and conceive it. When someone thinks about a migrant, one often limits its thinking to refugees, labor migration or students. The…
Hiding Homelessness: Beyond Highway Walls and Uncomfortable Benches
After the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, you might have seen an article or two pass by on the topic of the “wall of shame”, this strategically placed wall on the edge of Rio’s highway. It was meant to hide its slums and shanty-towns like Nova Holanda and Maré from the views of…
From guns and germs to ideal ecosystems: are cities the pinnacle of human organization?
In June 1975, travellers arriving to New York City were handed pamphlets by members of the police force. Their title, printed along a chilling illustration of a hooded skull, read “Welcome to Fear City”
“This city has been lost to China” Urbanism in Coastal Cambodia
In recent years, the once-dreamy beach town of Sihanoukville on the southern coast of Cambodia has become a casino-ridden hub for Chinese investment.
The colonial legacies of our cities: tackling the modern myth of Le Corbusier
We navigate the city as passive inhabitants, moving from one organization to the other, one order to the other, from brutalism to neoclassicism. Systematically we fail to critically engage with our surroundings. We walk by St Paul’s Cathedral, by the British Museum or the V&A. We see their grandeur, their overwhelming amount of detail….
Why a ‘Technical Fix’ can’t Solve Political Problems: The Case of Cape Town’s Water Crisis.
Cape Town’s water crisis serves as a case study to discuss how technological fixes fail to address pre-existing inequalities and power relations, and do so by distracting attention away from political solutions
Behind the shining scenes of Berlin: The costs of reunification
Berlin has been running alien reconstruction policies since the nineties. Now that the city’s arty lifestyle makes it increasingly attractive, it is struggling to balance the books while at the same time preserving its authenticity.
Editorial: Urban Perspectives: Understanding the City’s Challenges
For our second issue, we wanted to offer a broad perspective of 21st century urban challenges. In 2007, for the first time in our history, the majority of the world population lived in an urban area and this urbanisation trend is showing no sign of slowing down. As a matter of fact, the near totality…
Why sexism makes for good populist politics
The relationship between populist politics and gender is surely a complicated yet understudied one, still it seems that sexism loans in its obscure arsenal of tactics.
American Women in Politics: 2018 Midterms Living up to the Year of the Woman?
American politics has long been a male dominated arena, and women in the U.S. still remain largely underrepresented at the highest levels. The 2018 midterm elections saw a surge of diverse women running for office. As a result, the term Year of the Woman resurfaced. The phrase was first used following a similar breakthrough election…
On Abortion and Politics: Argentina’s New Clothes
In June 2018, the streets of Argentina echoed the sound of a common scream: the Emperor has no clothes.
Running for your love: Tracing the life of a queer asylum seeker
Meet Muhammad Ali Baashi. He’s eighteen, a Somali teenager working for his family in the village of Barawe some fifty miles from Mogadishu. Muhammad is a lot like most teenagers, and as a teenager often does, Muhammad fell in love. Love is a universal truth, something we feel for our family, our friends, our pets,…
The Case against Female-Oriented Microfinance – Why giving women loans fails to empower them
Western countries have a taste for offering credit, which peaked in the 1980s in the context of the world debt crisis, when conditional loans were used to propagate free market fundamentalism and neoliberal orthodoxy. Since then, ‘credit’ has turned its coat and is working with development, in the form of microfinance. Microfinance is often used…
Case Study: Why is Feminism limited in China?
A year after the #MeToo movement spread on social media with the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations breaking out in The New York Times, it is fair to say that Feminism has been everywhere in the Western hemisphere lately. However, whilst we regularly hear stories from Europe, North America, the Middle East and South Asia…
Brazil and Bolsonaro: The Resistance Will Be Feminist or It Won’t Be.
the 28th of October, Brazil took a radical step towards fascism with the election of Jair Bolsonaro as President of the country. Such event may seem unbelievable, but it is the outcome of an incremental crisis in brazilian politics that started after the mandate of the former President Lula da Silva. A very brief summary…
Editorial: Gender + Politics
Our first challenge: Bringing a closer yet broader lens on the interplay of gender and politics For the first of our monthly themes, we wanted to hit the ground running with a deeply contemporary and debated topic. While a fair amount of publications focus their attention on high visibility debates around this topic, we are…
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