Much has been written lately about the rise of populism and crises of liberal democracy. But what role do intellectuals play in an age of right-wing insurgency in Europe and beyond? While Andrew Brandel focuses on the “battle over language” and the neoliberal erosion of knowledge in the US academic system, Lilia Shevtsova explains why liberalism has failed to take deep root in Russian society. On the world political stage, as tensions between Russia and the West continue to mount, multi-lateral dialogue and international diplomacy are more important than ever to avoid a new Cold War, says Walter Kemp in his article based on an OSCE workshop at the IWM. The rule of law and the laws of war are also discussed in contributions by Ezgi Yildiz and León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, who reflect on the functions and transformations of international law in the 21st century. In this context, Sebastian M. Spitra shows how the concept of cultural property has been used as an instrument of (neo)colonial rule in the past and present.
Further contributions to this issue include studies of different milieux in the post-communist space. Whereas Andrei Kurkov sheds light on the little-known history of the hippies of Soviet Lviv, Chiara Bonfiglioli asks former garment workers about their experience of postsocialist transformation in former Yugoslavia. Annemieke Hendriks, in turn, traces the biography of the tomato from seed to supermarket by analyzing the paradoxes and myths of the fresh food trade and the transformation of Europe’s post-Cold War agricultural landscape.
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Contents
From the Fellows
Intellectuals in the Age of Right-Wing Insurgency / by Andrew Brandel
We Need to Talk: Fostering Dialogue Between Russia and the West / by Walter Kemp
The Long Shadows of the Free Market / by Annemieke Hendriks
Structures of Feeling After Yugoslavia / by Chiara Bonfiglioli
Russia in Global Dialogue
Russia: Did Liberals Bury Liberalism? / by Lilia Shevtsova
International Law and Multinormativity
Discovering, Protecting, Destroying / by Sebastian M. Spitra
Law—What is It Good For? / by Ezgi Yildiz and León Castellanos-Jankiewicz
Lectures and Debates
Searching for the Commons in Times of New Enclosures / Report by Paweł Marczewski
Events in Retrospect
Ukraine in European Dialogue
The Hippies of Soviet Lviv / by Andrei Kurkov
Varia
Fellows and Guests
Publications
Books, Articles and Talks
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