Agora
Posts by Nick Malkoutzis
The World Cup, Argentina and Europe’s quest for moral clarity
The fury directed at Argentina does not really seem to be about football. It exposes Europe’s need to assert moral certainty - a habit seen before in its treatment of Greece during the country’s debt crisis. And it reveals a major blind spot.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Europe (297), Society (156)
The "King of the North" seeking to heal a fractured kingdom
This June marks 10 years since the Brexit referendum - a decade in which the world has been in flux and Britain has been in turmoil. The narrow decision to leave the European Union has shaken the country’s politics, economy and identity.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (417), Economy (355), Society (156)
From nice story to pulped fiction: Carney delivers reality check on rules-based order
The speech delivered by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos has rightly attracted significant attention. It offered the crisp, crystallised analysis of global order, or disorder, that the world needed, enabling leaders to assess options based on a realistic understanding of the present rather than an idealised fantasy.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Europe (297), Politics (417), Economy (355)
The nightmare of our choice
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella, earned its reputation mostly as a critique of Western colonialism. However, the author also wanted it to convey his horror at what he called the “criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness” – the exploitation of Africa and Africans hidden behind a thin veneer of imperialistic grandeur.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (417), Society (156), Greece (535)
Greek politics goes from stability to state of flux
Less than 18 months since New Democracy, Greece’s ruling centre-right party, won a comfortable victory in the general elections, leaving the two main opposition parties of the left, SYRIZA and PASOK, so far behind that dominance for many years seemed almost a certainty, the country’s politics is in flux again.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (417), Greece (535)