A journal placing Europe in the world
By HÉLÈNE B. DUCROS | In a fragmented world, the World Society Foundation was conceived as a loose network where research agendas are shared. It is not a school of thought, does not have a political or theoretical agenda, and does not impose concepts or methods. Instead, it adopts the stance of methodological pluralism, with a strong emphasis on empirical realities and analysis of the making of a global society.
By HÉLÈNE B. DUCROS | Higher education benefits when institutions learn from each other. Innovation is not always about inventing something entirely new. Sometimes it is about recovering valuable practices that institutions have forgotten. One of our central convictions is that innovation and renewal need each other.
By OKSANA ERMOLAEVA | Computational humanities begins from a provocative premise: culture, art, history, and human experience can be rendered as data, not to reduce their complexity but to uncover patterns, connections, and structures that conventional reading alone may never bring into view.
By Elizabeth B. Jones | Enshrined in the province’s constitution in 2013, the Vorarlberg (Austria) model of citizens’ assemblies, or Bürgerräte, offers more than two decades’ worth of experience with trust-building between local governments, the state parliament, and its approximately 275,000 voters.
By ELIZABETH B. JONES | Denmark is home to longstanding models of community-building in the form of folk high schools, or Højskolerne. These are non-formal residential schools for students between 16 and 24 where the emphasis is on learning without exams, mandatory classes, and formal grades.
By EDINA PALEVIQ | In Austria, debates surrounding asylum, language acquisition, labor market participation, citizenship, and social cohesion frequently intersect with questions of integration. Language can create opportunities for participation, education, and employment, but it can also function as a requirement connected to important life choices.
By NICHOLAS OSTRUM | Dr. Taras Mahlay discusses the origins and changing roles of the Cleveland Maidan Association, the ways in which Ukrainians have innovated in medicine since the war started, the transformation of Ukraine’s medical culture, intercommunal solidarity, and the future of Cleveland Maidan after the war ends.
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 HÉLÈNE B. DUCROS and NICK OSTRUM | Energy humanities have to be more than a good citizen revolt against oil and a steady march towards the sanctuary of electricity. They are a falling forward to the unknown, open to the practitioner, lay person, scholar, and any entrepreneur trying to make something happen in the energy space.
By ELIZABETH B. JONES | The damage to the Black Sea’s aquatic ecosystem and the Kakhovka Dam breach are the most extreme examples of what many scientific and legal experts now call Russia’s ecocide against Ukraine and, indeed, the entire region.
By KUNLING ZHANG | Slowbalization is the result of a deliberate political choice by right-wing populist governments. Economic and geoeconomic factors have certainly played a role too.
By POMPEO DELLA POSTA | The EU is uniquely situated to play a moderating role in the confrontation between the US and China, given its geopolitical influence, economic power, and commitment to multilateralism.
By HÉLÈNE B. DUCROS | The Russian invasion was made possible because of our very system of production and resource use.
