By MANUELA ACHILLES | It is historically misleading to describe Eurovision as a peace project born directly from the ruins of WWII. It was established as a technical rather than a political initiative. Today, it is the largest cultural event bringing Europeans together on a single occasion to consume the same product. It is Europe’s biggest election.

By MANUELA ACHILLES and PETER DEBAERE | This year’s contest, with its official motto “United by Music,” takes place against a troubling geopolitical backdrop that is redefining Europe’s position in the world. This rapidly shifting context is characterized by the convergence of military conflict, economic realignment, and intensifying cultural contestation.

By JOHN PICKLES | In making women’s stories central rather than treating them as add‑ons to the biographies of male leaders, Ioffe produces a rich genealogy of the Soviet and Russian twentieth century in which reproductive politics, everyday survival, and domestic arrangements are placed alongside the changing scope of professional roles women played in Soviet society.

Translated by ALLISON M. CHARETTE | Hira is coming to settle the memory and pain. He is in the room where he was born. In Ambohipo. Antananarivo. In a few hours, he will set off on the journey to return to his father. Out in Mahajanga.

By NOBUHIRO NAKANISHI | I unify elements of time and space into this work of creation and repeat the act of filling up the visible and the invisible simultaneously.

This month’s recent book recommendations by GlobalEurope editors EDINA PALEVIQ, HÉLÈNE B. DUCROS, and NICHOLAS OSTRUM: Read about why nations go to war, the rise of a global physical culture, and the necessity for a world’s political reset.