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Two pictures on exposed brick wall, showing objects of the Pergamon Museum in boxes.

Berlin Museums Set To Return Everything

By Loes Hendriks, Çiçek İlengiz, Florence Potter and Judith Sieber. ‘Berlin Museums Set To Return Everything’ reviews a temporary exhibition of the Berlin Pergamon Museum, a glimpse into their year-long reconstruction phase, against the grain. The mock piece looks optimistically at the display of the exhibition that gives the impression that a critical reflection of the state of restitution in Germany has actually led to its logical solution: to finally return everything in order to arrive at the form of the decolonial museum.

Abstract art in blue and lilac.

The European Democracy Shield – A Toolbox for Safeguarding Digital Democracy?

By Valentina Golunova. On 12 November 2025, the European Commission presented its long-awaited Communication ‘European Democracy Shield: Empowering Strong and Resilient Democracies’. It promises to ‘reinforce the core elements that allow citizens to live our shared democratic values every day’ (European Commission, 2025c). To that end, the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) puts forward a broad spectrum of measures to strengthen the security and integrity of the European Union’s (EU) information ecosystem, particularly in the face of foreign interference.

Portrait of a person with short hair and glasses.

Machtat of Kerkenah: An Empowering Motherly Continuum and Cultural Heritage – 5in10 with Souhir Zekri

Souhir Zekri holds a PhD in English Studies from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland) and currently teaches at the Higher Institute of Digital Engineering of Tunis (University of Tunis). Her main research areas include life writing theory, motherhood and gender studies, the Italian Diaspora in Scotland, and spatial theory. She also writes short stories and first-person testimonies in relation to gender and harassment. In the academic year 2025–26, Souhir is a MECAM Fellow, working on her project on traditional women singers in Tunisia.

A statue covered in plastic bags full of sand, facing away from the photographer.

On Images and Objects of Russia’s War against Ukraine: An Introduction

By Miglė Bareikytė, Natasha Klimenko and Viktoriya Sereda. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has swiftly spread through both social and traditional media on a global scale. Meanwhile, with the spread of widely available generative AI technologies and its misuse for strategic disinformation by authoritarian regimes like Russia, the future of visualising war and conflict zones seems poised for confusion and uncertainty. The aim of the dossier is to analyse the difficult and painful environments that have emerged in Ukraine in the aftermath of various legacies of violence, including Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Large fields of solar panels in the Moroccan desert.

Bridging the Mediterranean: Collaborative Pathways or Power Struggles in Renewable Energy?

By Mustapha Majidi. Over the past two decades, several renewable energy strategies and initiatives have been launched in Europe, many of which focus on exploiting and importing the renewable energy potential of the South. This study critically examines the main disadvantages of renewable energy project partnerships in the region, focusing on Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which represent key actors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with ambitious and dynamic energy goals. It then analyses the structural imbalances in partnerships, arguing that cooperation in this sector remains largely tilted in favour of the North.

A drawing of a woman reading a magazine while leaning on the countertop of a kitchen, electric appliances in the background.

Ideal Family, Citizenship, and Hygiene: Representations of Electric Household Appliances in Early Republican Turkey

By Nurçin İleri. Early Republican discourse on hygiene-focused modernization in Turkey intersected with the visual and rhetorical representations of electric household appliances. Those appliances functioned less as everyday tools than as material and symbolic markers of an imagined modernity. Rather than reflecting local realities, they projected a normative vision of the future and of women’s roles in society and the household. While these technologies ostensibly eased women’s labor, they simultaneously disciplined it, making women both carriers and regulated figures of modernity.

Dalia Halabi in a red blouse, listening and taking notes during an event.

“Gaining Access was a Major Challenge” – 5in10 with Dalia Halabi

Dalia Halabi is a sociologist of education who adopts a “study up” approach to critically examine educational and social disparities. She holds a PhD in Leadership and Policy in Education from the University of Haifa and an MA in Conflict Management and Mediation from Tel Aviv University. Her doctoral research explored the formation of elite identity among Palestinian students and alumni of private schools in Israel, analyzing how educational experiences shape distinction, belonging, and social trajectories within a context of national marginalization.

The building of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania on a sunny day.

Addressing Value Pluralism: The Lithuanian Constitutional Court Enhances Democracy by Resolving the Deadlock of Civil Unions

By Donatas Murauskas. The issue of civil unions for same-sex couples has long been one of the most contentious and sensitive topics in Lithuanian politics, reflecting deeper societal tensions. This changed on 17th April 2025, when, in a significant development, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court addressed the long-standing issue of legal recognition for same-sex and opposite-sex civil unions. This blog post examines how the Constitutional Court addressed one of the fundamental challenges of deliberative democracy in practice – value pluralism – which had stalled the Parliament for many years.

The Sahara desert beneath a blue sky.

A Reverse Shot of Migratory Narratives in Matteo Garrone’s “Io Capitano” (2022)

By Said Chemlal. In his film Io Capitano (I’m the Captain, 2022), Matteo Garrone inverts popular narratives about illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, both Maghrebi and European. Unlike the common narratives, he brings to the fore the perspective of ‘illegal’ immigrants as individual subjectivities, who become active participants in the film themselves, rather than mere objects of the camera. The protagonists participate in weaving the narrative and, more importantly, (re)narrating their traumatic lived experiences; hence, they are given a voice to tell their stories.

Teenagers and young adults holding protest signs, reading e.g. "Justicia Climática" or "Si no escuchas al planeta me escucharas a mí".

A Right to Defend the Environment. Legal Protection for Environmental Advocacy in the IACtHR’s Climate Advisory Opinion

By Nina Alizadeh Marandi and Philipp Schönberger. As the world faces an escalating triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – those who step forward to defend the environment are increasingly stigmatized, criminalized, and subjected to violence. It is therefore not surprising that the protection of environmental defenders features prominently in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ (IACtHR). By recognizing environmental defenders as essential actors in democratic climate governance, the IACtHR’s advisory opinion advances a bold vision of environmental democracy that positions civic engagement as a vital precondition for legitimate and effective climate action.