Political Economy and Inequalities

Political Economy and Inequalities

In the Name of Freedom: The Dismantling of Decent Work in Argentina

Javier Milei’s recently approved labor reform promises to liberate the Argentine people from the obstacles that constrain their individual prosperity. Yet beneath its façade of freedom, the reform redefines the legal protections that have long safeguarded workers, their well-being, and their environments, as the Agenda 2030’s “Decent Work” Goal demands.

26.03.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Populist Paradox: Economic Pain, Enduring Power

Populism is no longer a fringe phenomenon. Across Western democracies, from Donald Trump in the US to Viktor Orbán in Hungary and now even in Austria, populist leaders are gaining traction and wielding considerable power. What are the economic and social consequences of this political shift?

24.03.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

Is the Alt-Right Secretly Neoliberal? The Paradoxical Legacies of Hayek and Mises

The contemporary far-right positions itself as an opponent of the “globalist elites”, who are promoting the neoliberal world order by promising the return to national sovereignty and traditional social values. This is precisely the claim that Quinn Slobodian wishes to deconstruct in his new book, Hayek’s Bastards. Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right. Published by Zone Books in 2025, the volume is an intellectual genealogy of the neoliberal and libertarian roots of modern alt-right movements.

24.02.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Polish Economic Miracle? A Review of Good Change and Poland’s Illiberal Turn

Poland's post-socialist economic transformation has long been celebrated as a free-market success story. In Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution, Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley complicate this narrative by tracing how the uneven distribution of Poland's prosperity created the opening for Law and Justice (PiS) to build a credible redistributive program: one that proved both electorally decisive and socially transformative. Kutup Aytekin's review highlights how the book places economic policymaking at the center of PiS's trajectory: its welfare agenda helped the party consolidate power, yet ultimately the liberal opposition's adoption of that same redistributive consensus contributed to PiS's downfall.

12.02.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

Women’s Participation in Ukraine’s Euromaidan- A Conversation with Olena Nikolayenko

In the podcast, Olena Nikolayenko places women’s protest within a broader framework, which includes the Arab Spring and Belarus. Her claim is that age, class, region and political experience shape women’s forms of engagement. Based on these observation, Invisible Revolutionaries distinguishes between three models of participation: patriarchal, emancipatory, and hybrid.

9.02.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

Fidesz on the Defensive: Sixteen Years of Dominance Under Threat

Hungary's April 2026 parliamentary election presents the first serious challenge to Viktor Orbán's sixteen-year rule. Péter Magyar's Tisza party, built on technocratic populism and a clean break from the discredited old opposition, leads Fidesz by roughly ten points among committed voters. This analysis examines the roots of Fidesz's vulnerability, the dynamics of a campaign dominated by economic grievances and a series of scandals, and the scenarios that could yet determine the outcome.

4.02.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

Five Publications on Political Economy Themes in 2025

This year's selection prioritizes breadth and balance. The five books span distinct thematic concerns—extractivism and the green transition, the decolonization of economic thought, the contemporary polycrisis, African economic sovereignty and industrialization, and housing financialization—ensuring that no single issue dominates. Disciplinary perspectives range from political science to economics, sociology, development studies, and comparative political economy, offering readers multiple methodological lenses on the current conjuncture

14.01.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

Venezuela and the “Sustainability” Wars Ahead

At the heart of contemporary conflicts lies an often-overlooked reality: Environmental resources are unevenly distributed and governed. As climate change accelerates and ecological limits tighten, struggles over land, energy, water, and biodiversity increasingly shape global politics, revealing the sustainability–peace nexus as a strategic mechanism used to stabilize extraction.

9.01.2026

Political Economy and Inequalities

2025 in Perspective: Daron Acemoğlu on Democracy, Delivery, and the Crisis Within

In this exclusive end-of-year conversation with our Co-Managing Editor Ece Özbey, Nobel Prize–winning political economist Daron Acemoğlu reflects on what 2025 revealed, and failed to resolve, about the state of democracy.

15.12.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

COP30 and the Geopolitical Trap of Energy Transition: A View from the South

If the energy transition requires territorial sacrifice and repression in the South, it is not a just transition. Mariana Paterlini explains how COP30 exposed the geopolitical trap of green extractivism—and why Latin America must reclaim sovereignty and rights to shape a truly democratic climate future.

9.12.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Populism vs. the Planet: How COP30 Fell Apart

As delegates gathered in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21 for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), expectations ran high. Marking a decade since the Paris Agreement, the summit raised hopes for breakthroughs in climate-adaptation finance, green energy transitions, and stronger emissions pledges. Instead, it exposed how populism has reshaped global climate governance, replacing cooperation with confrontation, facts with opinions, and urgency with delay.

2.12.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Exiles and Diasporas in the Crosshairs of Authoritarian States – Nate Schenkkan on the Rise of Transnational Repression and What Can Be Done to Counter It

In this discussion with Nate Schenkkan, an independent authority on human rights and global authoritarianism and former senior director of research at Freedom House, we examine the growing issue of transnational repression—a practice wherein states pursue individuals and groups beyond their own borders whom they regard as threats to those in power.

1.12.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Between Disruption and Renewal: Rethinking the Climate Movement in a Time of Democratic Stress

In this double interview, legal scholar Liz Hicks and political scientist Áron Buzogány reflect on the shifting terrain of global climate activism since the peak of the Fridays for Future movement in 2019. They discuss the strategic crossroads the movement now faces. The exchange situates the climate struggle within a wider democratic crisis — one in which both state institutions and activist networks are being forced to reinvent themselves.

20.11.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Russia’s Multipolar Bargain: Flexibility Without Foundations

Moscow offers cheaper access to energy, finance, and payment rails, but not the investment and rules that make a real order.

21.10.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Why Do Sustainability Plans Keep Failing Us?

Why do sustainability plans so often fall short? The problem lies not in the strategic intentions but the very language of these agendas, which builds invisible walls that decide from the start who and what is excluded.

10.10.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Capitalism’s Democracy: Competition and Resilience in Twenty-First Century

In our latest episode of the special series produced in partnership with the Journal of Democracy, we discuss the recent article co-authored by Steven Levitsky, Semuhi Sinanoglu, and Lucan Way, entitled “Can Capitalism Save Democracy?”

11.09.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Mapping Democracy: The Cartography of Secret Wealth in Twenty-First Century

Atossa Ataxia Abrahamian’s latest book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World contributes to this shifting discourse, alerting us to the paradoxes of citizenship in the twenty-first century. With an exceptional cast of characters, geographies, and episodes, The Hidden Globe accomplishes a dizzying journey across the world, chronicling how this topic is conjured in mainstream spaces by engineering exceptionality.

27.08.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

War, Oligarchs, and the Future of Ukraine’s Political Economy – Inna Melnykovska on Civic Transformation, Reconstruction and EU Influence in Wartime Ukraine

How is war transforming Ukraine’s economy—and its oligarchs? In this Review of Democracy podcast, political economist Inna Melnykovska (Central European University) discusses how the full-scale Russian invasion has led to surprising shifts in business-state relations, including a turn toward civic responsibility among Ukraine’s biggest companies.

20.08.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Envisioning Stability: Peace, Gender, and Climate in Nepal

In an insightful conversation with our Assistant Editor Vatsala Tyagi, Dr. Prakash Bhattarai, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Change (CSC), Kathmandu and a leading researcher in peace and conflict studies, shared his perspectives on sustaining peace, addressing migration, and tackling climate change in Nepal and South Asia.

1.07.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Startup Democracy: Meritocracy and Gender in Bangalore, A Conversation with Hemangini Gupta

Startups have become one of the defining features of the 21st-century economy, celebrated as engines of innovation, meritocracy, and social mobility. Entrepreneurs—from Silicon Valley to Bangalore—are increasingly influential in shaping not just markets but also political discourse. Governments around the world are investing heavily in building startup ecosystems, often presenting them as neutral, technocratic spaces of economic growth and opportunity.

24.06.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

China’s Carbon Gambit: A Green Quest or a Game of Politics?

In a historic shift, China’s CO₂ emissions are falling. This is not due to an economic slump, but rather an aggressive pivot toward clean energy. As the world’s largest emitter, China’s transformation is more than symbolic: It has the potential to redefine the pace and politics of global climate action. This turning point demands closer scrutiny. By Ceren Çevik In 2020, Beijing unveiled its “double-carbon” (双碳) policy, framing it as a pivot toward climate leadership and signaling that the world’s largest emitter was finally stepping up to its long-anticipated global responsibilities. Since then, China has massively expanded its clean energy capacity and launched a national emissions trading scheme. Yet coal still looms large, and the pace of actual emission reductions has been inconsistent. Now, with emissions finally beginning to decline, a crucial question resurfaces: Is the “double-carbon” agenda engendering genuine structural transformation, or is China simply mastering the [...]

17.06.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Survival, Resistance and Readiness in Dark Times – Vincent Liegey on the Trajectory and Future of the Degrowth Movement

In this interview Review of Democracy political economy editor Kristóf Szombati speaks with Vincent Liegey — degrowth activist, essayist, lecturer and editorial advisor of the new Routledge Handbook of Degrowth — about the roots, trajectory, and challenges of the degrowth movement.

12.06.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Politicization of Anti-Feminism in Latin America

The growing visibility of anti-feminism in Latin America is not an isolated trend but a deliberate political strategy. In this op-ed, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser examines how far-right actors harness anti-feminist rhetoric to mobilize voters, resist the expansion of rights, and contest the very meaning of democracy.

4.06.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Pride Hungary: Orbán’s Culture War Escalates Ahead of 2026 Election

June is designated as Pride Month in many countries, but Orbán’s Hungary has essentially banned Pride events, masking democratic backsliding behind culture wars. Damien Le-Hoste unpacks the political theatre fueling authoritarian tactics ahead of a crucial 2026 election.

3.06.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Implications of the Termination of US Government Assistance for Civil Society in Central Europe – Part II

The second part of this article analyzes the impact of the termination of US Government Assistance on the implementer landscape and the indirect political implications in the CEE region.

29.05.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Implications of the Termination of US Government Assistance for Civil Society in Central Europe – Part I

The first part of this article recounts the background of the termination of US Government Assistance and its immediate financial consequences for the CSO sector in Central and Eastern Europe.

28.05.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Unequal Republic and the Egalitarian State: Democracy, Authoritarianism, and the Politics of Redistribution in India and China

In this conversation with Professor Vamsi Vakulabharanam, we explore the relationship between democracy and economic inequality by examining the divergent trajectories of China and India, as detailed in his recently published book, Class and Inequality in China and India, 1950-2010 (Oxford University Press, 2024). Through a comparative lens, Vamsi probes how political regimes—one authoritarian, the other democratic—shaped the economic responses to inequality in each country. While both nations began their postcolonial histories with ambitious visions of development, their political systems produced markedly different outcomes. In India, democratic governance allowed for broad participation but was also shaped by elite consensus. Post-independence reforms, though grounded in democratic ideals, often took a top-down form that prioritized the interests of rural capitalists and dominant castes. This constrained the potential for deep structural transformation, despite the formal [...]

19.05.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Hydro-hegemony: Water Modernization in Nepal and Beyond

In this wide-ranging conversation on hydrology and climate change, Dr. Dipak Gyawali, former Minister of Water Resources for Nepal, offers a series of crucial insights into the often indifferent, selectively inadequate, and politically compromised responses to the climate crisis. Arguing for a more sophisticated, multipronged approach, Dr. Gyawali critiques dominant Western scientific paradigms for failing to recognize the climate crisis primarily as a crisis of water. He highlights how these frameworks not only marginalize water-related concerns but also frequently dismiss indigenous hydrological knowledge systems as unscientific or primitive, thereby reinforcing global hierarchies of knowledge and power.

28.04.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Why Eco-authoritarianism Is Not the Solution – Nomi Claire Lazar and Jeremy Wallace on Why, Despite Its Many Flaws, We Should Stick to Democracy in Our Quest to Solve the Climate Crisis

In this conversation with Nomi Lazar, Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, and Jeremy Wallace, Professor of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, we engage with their spirited defense of democracy in the face of calls for the deployment of emergency powers to come up with solutions to the worsening climate crisis. Nomi and Jeremy highlight the pitfalls of emergency legislation and spell out the key resources that in their view democracies and only democracies bring to the table in the combat to prevent climate breakdown. The conversation also touches on China’s impressive climate record, the shortcomings of liberal democratic government, the need for more egalitarian forms of democracy, and some of the ways in which well-designed emergency legislation could still prove useful.

7.04.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Dismantling of US Statistical and Data Infrastructures by the Trump Administration

The Trump administration’s swift and systematic dismantling of statistical and data infrastructures has largely gone unnoticed. From erasing health and education data to cutting research funding, these actions threaten evidence-based policymaking, mirroring tactics used in autocratic regimes to obscure transparency and suppress inconvenient truths.

25.03.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Quo Vadis, Deutschland? – Political Realignment

For decades, post-war German politics has rested on a shared commitment to keeping extremist parties at the margins. The principle of the cordon sanitaire — a firewall between democratic and anti-democratic forces — was more than a procedural rule; it became a moral and institutional cornerstone of liberal democracy in Germany. But what happens when this line begins to blur? We asked our contributors: How likely is the cordon sanitaire to collapse in the next parliament? And what unconventional forms of cooperation or tactical maneuvering might emerge across the political spectrum in the upcoming legislative cycle?

21.03.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Quo Vadis, Deutschland? – The Future of the Green Agenda

This mini-series brings together leading scholars working in and on Germany to offer their insights into the key questions arising from this pivotal moment of transition. Through a multi-angled, interdisciplinary discussion, it examines the political, economic, and social forces driving change and shaping the country’s and the broader region’s future. In this third edition, our contributors examine the pressures weighing on Germany’s ecological transformation.

18.03.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Quo Vadis, Deutschland? – The Future of Multiculturalism

This mini-series brings together leading scholars working in and on Germany to offer their insights into the key questions arising from this pivotal moment of transition. Through a multi-angled, interdisciplinary discussion, it examines the political, economic, and social forces driving change and shaping the country’s and the broader region’s future. In this second edition, our contributors examine the shifting dynamics of integration and diversity in Germany.

14.03.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

German Election Brings Some Relief but Huge Challenges Lie Ahead

After the dust settled on election day and the sun rose over the Hauptstadt one thing became abundantly clear: the outcome could have been far worse. The terror attacks in Solingen, Mannheim, Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich made asylum and immigration the top electoral issue, forcing the two governing left-wing parties (the SPD and Greens) to play defense, and compelling conservative leader Friedrich Merz to launch a law-and-order offensive focused on the securitization of borders. While the maneuver prevented the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) – which had been calling for similar measures since 2015 – from taking ownership of the issue, it also led Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) to pass a non-binding parliamentary resolution together with the far-right.

25.02.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Access Denied: Abortion Data Failures and Erosion of Accountability in Italy

Delayed data on abortion care in Italy impacts citizens’ ability to effectively advocate and hold their government accountable for the management of public healthcare. The Italian Ministry of Health is required to report data on abortion yearly, but this year’s report was significantly delayed. Scholars, advocates, and doctors themselves have raised concerns about transparency and data quality, and how delays affect trust in democratic institutions.

7.02.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Reimagining European Prosperity – A Conversation with Marija Bartl on the Role of Legal Imaginaries in Shaping European Political Economy

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Marija Bartl – author of Reimagining Prosperity: Toward a New Imaginary of Law and Political Economy in the EU – warns that the post-2008 crisis of neoliberalism created an ideological vacuum that would either be filled by a new vision of shared prosperity or by tribal imaginaries. She explains why the EU, despite its neoliberal origins, might be uniquely placed to articulate such a new vision of prosperity, and argues that European law is already being transformed to support it.

24.01.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Five Publications on Political Economy Themes in 2024

Here come our five recommendations on political economy themes from 2024 that address and grapple in novel and highly suggestive ways with the most urgent questions of our time: How to save democracy from the grip of oligarchy? How to accelerate the ecological transition without destroying sustainable ways of living, and how can we overcome neocolonial geopolitical relations?

8.01.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

How Did Right-Wing Populists Win the Immigration Debate and What Can Mainstream Parties Do About It? – Sheri Berman on the Representation Gap Between Voters and Mainstream Parties Over Immigration in Western Europe

In this conversation with Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, we engage with her key argument that growing support for right-wing populism is primarily a consequence of mainstream parties’ failure to address popular concerns about immigration. We dissect the ‘representation gap’ argument, discuss alternative explanations (namely, the issue of racism and xenophobia), explore salient differences between center-left and center-right parties, and highlight strategies that mainstream parties have used and could use to respond to citizens’ concerns and demands on immigration.

6.01.2025

Political Economy and Inequalities

Landing the Paris Climate Agreement – Todd Stern on a Groundbreaking Document and What It Took to Make It Happen

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Todd Stern – former United States Special Envoy for Climate Change – explains what made the Paris Climate Agreement such a groundbreaking document and what kind of bargaining and compromises it took to make it happen; discusses the place and role of the US within its broad coalition as well as his extensive engagement with his crucial Chinese partners; and considers major new possibilities to tackle climate change effectively and current obstacles to do so.

16.12.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

How Germany’s Fiscal Orthodoxy Toppled Its Government and Imperils Its Future

On November 6, 2024, Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner, ending Germany’s “traffic light” coalition in dramatic fashion. This wasn’t just a matter of personal differences—it was the inevitable result of a fiscal orthodoxy that has shackled Germany’s economy for over a decade. Dogged adherence to balanced budgets has systematically thwarted critical investments in infrastructure, climate action, and digitalization, while external demand masked the model’s flaws. With export markets shrinking in the United States and China, the enablers of this approach have fallen, exposing deep cracks in the foundations of Germany’s economic model. Yet the political obstacles to dismantling this self-harming paradigm remain formidable.

11.12.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Great Gender Divergence – In Conversation with Alice Evans

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Alice Evans discusses the great gender divergence and how we might explain that some countries are much more gender equal than others; considers whether the history of gender is essentially about female emancipation in modern times but also whether even the most gender equal countries in the world today remain rather patriarchal; and reflects on the special challenges of writing an interdisciplinary book that analyzes the history of gender on a truly global scale – and how such a project relates to the idea of a gender binary.

11.11.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

We Need Democratization, Not of Nuclear Energy Debate but Energy Debate in General. In Conversation with Professor M. V. Ramana

In this conversation with M. V. Ramana, we delve into one of the most pressing issues of our time: the climate crisis. In response to this crisis, various solutions have been proposed, with nuclear energy emerging as one of the most prominent. After more than a decade of caution following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, a global consensus has gradually formed around nuclear power as a viable and efficient solution to meet energy demands. Advocates argue that nuclear energy can not only complement fossil fuels but also fulfil the growing energy needs of the world.

22.10.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

What Drives Ordinary People to Espouse Authoritarian Figures? Kristóf Szombati on the Spatial Origins of Right-Wing Authoritarianism

The countryside has often been seen as a space where politics flows to, but does not grow out of. When it comes to the authoritarian right, this could not be further from the truth. So what draws people in rural areas to seek an ordered world? In this first episode of their new podcast This Authoritarian Life RevDem Editor Kristóf Szombati and his co-host Erdem Evren embark on an exploration of the origins of contemporary authoritarianism by inspecting the case of rural Hungary, where Kristóf had worked both as an anthropologist and a community worker. What dislocations fueled the rise of the far-right Jobbik party and what did Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party offer to temper popular discontents?

15.10.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

Ask What You Can Do for Your City – Benedek Jávor on European Politics, Representing Budapest, and the Green Transition

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Benedek Jávor – Head of the Representation of Budapest to the European Union – discusses his current role and the evolving relationship between the European Union, the city of Budapest, and the Hungarian government; reflects on the green transition and critiques Hungary’s current energy policies; and pleads for talking responsibility locally.

4.10.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

The Beginning of the End: Recent Regional Elections Signal the Demise of Not Only Scholz, but Left-Liberal-Green Hegemony in Germany

Germany is facing an endemic crisis of its economic model as a whole, with the ruling left-liberal-green coalition also facing a crisis of moral authority after the recent regional elections in East Germany, which amounted to a political earthquake. What awaits is a new governmental project under the aegis of the conservatives and under pressure from far-right forces.

27.09.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

Unpacking the Link Between Gender-based Violence and Autocratization

We are witnessing the worrying proliferation of exclusionary political visions across the globe. Aspiring autocrats are exchanging know-how, and it is becoming clear that gender-based violence is part of the toolkit.

23.08.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

Europe’s Largest Minority Left Without Political Representation in the EP – Reflections on the Outcome of the European Elections

Despite the fact that it is difficult to meaningfully address Roma inclusion without effective political representation, the representation of Roma – Europe’s largest minority – has been severely neglected across the European political space, with no Roma candidate getting elected to the European Parliament this year.

31.07.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

A Paradoxical Relationship? – Gergő Medve-Bálint on the First Two Decades of Hungary’s EU Membership

In this conversation, Gergő Medve-Bálint – co-editor, with András Bíró-Nagy of the new volume Húsz év az Európai Unióban. Magyarország uniós tagságának közpolitikai mérlege (Twenty Years in the European Union. A Balance Sheet of Hungary’s Membership and Public Policies) – discusses the achievements and shortcomings of Hungary’s EU membership; what continuities and ruptures there have been across these two decades; in what ways Hungary has been a reliable member of the club and where it has deviated from common agendas and policies; and what the case of Hungary may reveal about how the semi-peripheries have fared within the EU since 2004.

24.06.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

What Stops China from Ruling the World? – Ho-fung Hung on the Problems Plaguing China’s Development Model and Its Limited Influence in the World

In this conversation with the Review of Democracy, Ho-fung Hung shares his eye-opening analysis of the internal contradictions and external limitations plaguing China’s export-led development model and offers novel insights into the difficulties its political leadership is encountering in challenging US hegemony and extending its global sphere of influence. While acknowledging China’s impressive achievements, Hung emphasizes China’s technological dependency and chronic industrial overcapacity, the impact of the rise of protectionism, the hegemony of the US dollar, and China’s lack of confidence in its military capabilities. At the same time, he forecasts the intensification of US-Chinese rivalry in connection with the gradual decoupling of the US and Chinese economies.

12.06.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

To push for as large a change as our democratic system will permit: Joseph Stiglitz on economics and the good society

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Joseph Stiglitz discusses key features of progressive, social democratic capitalism; explains what motivated him to want to reclaim the language of freedom from the Right; and reflects on what the toolkit of the economist can contribute to our understanding of the relationship between freedom and democracy.

24.04.2024

Political Economy and Inequalities

For Money Laundering To Occur, All That Authorities Have To Do Is Nothing

In this conversation with RevDem editor Robert Nemeth, Dean Starkman and Neil Weinberg (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) talk about Cyprus Confidential, the investigation exposing how Cyprus-based financial services firms have enabled the Russian elite — including Vladimir Putin’s inner circle — to shelter their wealth and shield billions of dollars in assets from the threat of impending sanctions. They explain how this system worked and what enabled it, but also share insights into how journalists work on cross-border collaborative projects on such scale.

15.12.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Equality. Darrin M. McMahon on an Elusive and Resilient Idea

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Darrin M. McMahon – author of the new book Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea – discusses his approach to the intellectual history of equality on the longue durée and explains why we shouldn’t think of this history as a triumphant march of progress; highlights the tensions between difference and sameness and explores the changing relationship between liberty and equality; and reflects on the globalization of our concern with equality – and our human ambivalence towards this resilient idea. 

7.11.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Maximilian Hess on the Economic War between Russia and the West

How Has Russia’s Attempt to Destroy the International Economic Order Backfired? In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Maximilian Hess – author of the new book Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West – shows how an economic war between Russia and the West has broken out in the 2010s; discusses why Russia’s large-scale invasion and brutal attempt to wreck Ukraine in 2022 has caused such disruption on the global scale; reflects on key features of the relationship between Russia and China today; and considers the future place of Russia in the international economic order. Maximilian Hess is the founder of the political risk consultancy Enmetena Advisory, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs. His research focuses on the relationship between trade, debt, international relations, and foreign policy as [...]

9.10.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

The War in Ukraine and Transition: In Conversation with Maria Popova

Despite, or perhaps due to, the war in Ukraine there have been positive developments in combating corruption and other issues in anticipation of EU membership. In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast Teodora Miljojkovic discusses these issues around transition with Professor Maria Popova.

20.06.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

From democracy to authoritarian capitalism

In this op-ed, Gábor Scheiring explores the latest Freedom House Nations in Transit Report, its implications for Hungary, and how the report only reveals the tip of the iceberg of the democratic backsliding in Hungary.

16.06.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Nested Stories of Persecution: Ari Joskowicz Discusses the Asymmetrical Entanglements of Jews and Roma in History and Memory

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Ari Joskowicz – author of the new book Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews, and the Holocaust – discusses the ways Jewish and Romani histories have been entangled and what motivated him to write a relational history of the two groups; illuminates why he considers it essential to explore the conditions of knowledge production and how to try to avoid reproducing injustices; shows what it has implied in concrete setting that the stories of persecution of one group of people have been nested within those of another; and reflects on what has truly changed in memory culture and what new dialogues could be pursued in the future.

5.06.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Danielle Allen on Power-Sharing Liberalism

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Danielle Allen – author of the new book "Justice by Means of Democracy" – discusses her proposal of a power-sharing liberalism and explains why she calls herself a “eudaemonist democratic pragmatist”; shows why it is essential to foster a connected society and measure that society by the principle of “difference without domination”; reflects on what a paradigm change in political economy could look like and which model of citizenship would be most suitable for our times.

24.05.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Clara Mattei: Why is austerity so persistent in spite of its incapacity to achieve economic growth and balanced budgets?

In this interview with RevDem assistant editor Giancarlo Grignaschi, Clara Mattei – Assistant Professor in the Economics Department of The New School for Social Research – talks about her new book "The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism" (University of Chicago Press, 2022). The manuscript explores the historical origins of austerity and its intellectual underpinnings in interwar Britain and Italy. During this interview, the author presents the main arguments of the book, the comparison between the two countries, the role of politics and the decline in electoral participation, the relationship between austerity and populism, and the recent problem of rising inflation.

27.04.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Be Realistic, Demand Significant Change! Daniel Chandler on What a Progressive Liberal Society of the Future Could Look Like

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Daniel Chandler – author of the new book "Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like?" – discusses key principles that a better and fairer society could be based on; shows what makes John Rawls’ ideas so exceptionally relevant today and how they could help improve the democratic process; explains how placing questions of power, control, dignity, and self-respect at the center of liberal economic thinking would foster new economic arrangements; and discusses where egalitarian liberalism has already been practiced and with what consequences.

22.04.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Racialized Labor — Eastern Europeans on The Western Market

In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyzanowska, Aleksandra Lewicki discusses her recently published article “East-west inequalities and the ambiguous racialization of ‘Eastern Europeans’”. Lewicki elaborates on the racialized imaginary of the Western European discourses on migration, talks about how the stereotype of hard-working Eastern Europeans negatively impacts their labor conditions, and ponders on the influence of neoliberal policies on the precarization of labor.

19.04.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Economic Sanctions are Insufficient to Stop the War

A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, catching many of us unprepared despite clear signs of impending conflict. The assumption that a European nation would conquer another in the 21st century appeared far-fetched. When the worst scenario happened, experts doubted Ukraine's ability to hold its ground for more than a few weeks. However, the country keeps resisting. The economic domain, along with warfare and geopolitics, presents many examples of events that did not turn out the way it was expected. This op-ed by Volodymyr Kulikov highlights three selected points about economic sanctions, corporate self-sanction, and energy wars.

24.03.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Dóra Piroska on Financial Nationalism

RevDem assistant editor Giancarlo Grignaschi in conversation with Dóra Piroska, assistant professor at CEU in Vienna at the department of International Relations, about her chapter on financial nationalism in the Elgar Handbook of Economic Nationalism, edited by Andreas Pickel.

16.02.2023

Political Economy and Inequalities

Best Political Economy Books of 2022

Gabor Scheiring, a head of the Political Economy and Inequalities section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books in political economy of 2022.

23.12.2022

Political Economy and Inequalities

Cannibal Capitalism: Nancy Fraser on How the Global Economic Order Consumes the Foundations of Our Democracy and Society

In this conversation with RevDem Political Economy and Inequalities section co-head Vera Scepanovic, Nancy Fraser – whose newest book "Cannibal Capitalism" has just been released – explains why the ongoing crises of democracy, healthcare, climate, and racial injustice are really manifestations of a single broader crisis of capitalism; how the ability of capitalism to survive by redrawing boundaries between the economic and non-economic realms is being challenged; and what an emancipatory coalition building might look like that ambitions more than greater inclusion into the existing system.

14.12.2022

Political Economy and Inequalities

Democracies Proved More Successful at Breaking Promises. Fritz Bartel on the End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism

RevDem section heads Vera Scepanovic and Ferenc Laczó talk with Fritz Bartel, author of "Triumph of Broken Promises. The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism".

8.09.2022

Political Economy and Inequalities

In Conversation with Eva Fodor: How the Carefare Gender Regime Shapes Hungary

RevDem Editor László Bence Bari in conversation with Éva Fodor, Professor at the Gender Studies and Pro-Rector of the Central European University about her latest book “The Gender Regime of Anti-Liberal Hungary”. In this book, she argues that the anti-liberal government of Hungary has established a specific kind of gender regime, the ’carefare’ policy which allows the government to stabilize and expand its rule over society and to support its ideological and political goals.

30.05.2022

Political Economy and Inequalities

Local oil, global finance, and democracies without citizen-creditors: in conversation with Helen Thompson

In conversation with Vera Šćepanović, Helen Thompson explains how concentrating on energy can reshape our understanding of contemporary history, political economy, and transnational finance; discusses how international relations are simultaneously shaped by zero-sum attitudes and tacit cooperation; asks what it means when representative democracies no longer rely on ‘citizen-creditors’; and reflects on how the profound economic shock triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might play out across the world.

11.05.2022

Political Economy and Inequalities

5 Key 2021 Books in Political Economy

Gábor Scheiring, the head of Political Economy section in the Review of Democracy, selects 5 the most intriguing books in this area.

22.12.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Laszlo Bruszt: The EU confederal regime weakens vulnerable member states

In this interview Laszlo Bruszt, Co-Director of the CEU Democracy Institute and Editor-in-Chief of RevDem, explains the inspiration behind the CEU Democracy Institute and RevDem, how East-West and North-South divisions define Europe, and why the EU confederal regime weakens vulnerable member states.

8.12.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Linking sexual diversity to otherness is an old phenomenon 

Bence Bari interviews Tamás Dombos, the representative of the Hungarian LGBTQI organization ‘Háttér Society’ concerning the recently adopted Hungarian anti-LGBT measures, their transnational and historical background with respect to the global dynamics of acceptance, and homophobia between the Western and Eastern hemisphere.

26.11.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

‘In the Name of the Family’: Conference Report on the Budapest Demographic Summit

The authors summarize and contextualize the content of the summit to argue that the conference not only provided an opportunity for its participants to address the ‘demographic crisis’ in Europe and the ‘family politics of conservative’ governments,’ but also amounted to an attempt to develop a transnational narrative for such self-declared conservatives that could unite political and ideological actors on various continents.

24.11.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Unspoken Inequalities. The Problems of Men in Europe

In many developed countries, polarization of young women and men has been increasingly visible in polls and has been noted by public opinion.

23.11.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Democracy’s Least Appreciated Strength Is Its Ability to Reform Itself – Dean Starkman on The Pandora Papers

In conversation with RevDem editor Robert Nemeth, Dean Starkman, senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, talks about the Pandora Papers and how tax avoidance and secrecy endangers democracy.

2.11.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Aldo Madariaga: Neoliberalism is not a solution for democracy

Aldo Madariaga discusses his latest book “Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe” with our editor, Giancarlo Grignaschi.

14.10.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

From Socialist to Capitalist Walls

Gábor Scheiring reviews „Taking stock of shock. Social consequences of the 1989 revolutions” by Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell Orenstein

11.10.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Rising Inequality in Egalitarian Societies

In conversation with our editor Ferenc Laczo, Mitchell Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses post-communist transitions.

25.08.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Is Neoliberalism Finally Dead?

Few concepts have been declared dead and buried more often than neoliberalism. However, it continues to survive. Neoliberal Resilience, Aldo Madariaga’s award-winning book, shows how. Review by Gabor Scheiring.

20.07.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Illiberal finance: think globally, act locally

Gabor Scheiring reviews the book by Fabio Mattioli "Dark Finance. Illiquidity and Authoritarianism at the Margins of Europe"

4.06.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Sustainable Democracy after 25 years. Conversation with Adam Przeworski

Our editor-in-chief Laszlo Bruszt asks Adam Przeworski about the contemporary relevance of "Sustainable democracy", a seminal book published 25 years ago.

21.04.2021

Political Economy and Inequalities

Corrupted Politicians Do Not Want To Be Constrained by Their Bureaucracy

In an interview with Giancarlo Grignaschi, Mihaly Fazekas argues that political appointees in federal agencies exercise pressure to create conditions for individual tenders and contracts that can be exploited for politically convenient purposes.

18.02.2021