Europe Has a Problem With Immigrants, Not With Islam

Reforming Schools and Labor Laws Would Help a Lot More Than Fixating on Religion

In Germany last month, the debate over Europe’s growing Muslim population reached a fever pitch. More than 100 robberies and sexual assaults were reported in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, and the city’s police chief said the majority of the perpetrators were of “Arab or North African appearance.”

Widespread protests against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s generally welcoming policies toward refugees fleeing the wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan quickly followed. Germany has taken in more than a million people in the past year, many of them raised with a religion …

February 3, 2016

Invite Tunisia to Join the European Union

In North Africa's New and Struggling Democracy, EU Membership Could Make All the Difference

By Daniel Schily | December 21, 2015

Tunisia, welcome to Europe—if you still want to join us.

Four years ago, in Germany’s newspaper for intellectuals, Die Zeit, the prominent author Gero von Randow called for Tunisia to be …

What Does the Refugee Crisis Mean for the European Ideal?

This Should Have Been the European Union's Finest Moment

By Andrés Martinez | October 21, 2015

Refugees cling to crowded boats and cross borders by train and by foot, unsure of whether they will be met by unyielding force or warm empathy. It’s as if history …

Europe Cannot Be Run From Berlin

As Issues Like the Refugee Crisis Continue to Affect the European Union, Its Members Still Struggle to Find Solidarity

By Hans Kundnani | October 21, 2015

Since the euro crisis began, it is has become commonplace to speak of a “German Europe” emerging from it. In one sense, the description is apt: As the largest creditor …

How Anders Behring Breivik Changed Norway

The Country Tried—and Failed—to Become More Democratic and Open in the Wake of a Terrorist Attack

by Bruno Kaufmann | July 23, 2014

Three years ago this week, Norway experienced the worst terrorist attack in its history. Anders Behring Breivik placed a handmade 2,100-pound bomb just outside the prime minister’s office in downtown …

Building Democracy in the World’s Most Northerly City

In an Archipelago Above the Arctic Circle, Norwegians Are Creating a Polity From Scratch

by Bruno Kaufmann | March 20, 2014

Aimée Lind Adamiak knows the rules of Svalbard very well. She has lived for six years in Longyearbyen, the island’s Norwegian-controlled settlement of 2,500 people. She knows that as soon …

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