Right turn at a broken traffic light: Germany...

When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America from France in 1831 he saw a new kind of society. Not just a country, but an idea that would change the world. His book “Democracy in America” was a big influence on later generations of writers and thinkers, including The Economist’s US ...  Show more

On June 23rd 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union, triggering years of argument, lost economic opportunities and political malaise. Our correspondents look back on the seismic moment and its aftershocks. And, as Britain prepares to get its seventh prime minister in a d ...  Show more

After the collapse of the governing “traffic light” coalition in December, the hard-right AfD has a <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/01/16/how-the-afd-got-its-swagger-back?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ...

A once-fringe far-right party looks close to power—and serves as another sign of a broad and worrying <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/01/07/the-putinisation-of-central-europe?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=d ...

Our correspondent interviews Sahra Wagenknecht, the popular leftist whose eponymous political party is now making the <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/05/germanys-party-system-is-coming-under-unprecedented-strain?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&u ...

Less than nine months after Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled, the honeymoon is over. How is the new regime responding to rising dissent? Introducing Britain’s revolutionary retirees: why pensioners increasingly dominate political protest. And celebrating the life of o ...  Show more