On Tuesday evening, the Government suffered a historic defeat in the House of Commons. The Withdrawal Agreement that Theresa May has spent years negotiating and months trying to sell to MPs was decisively rejected-202 ayes to 432 noes. In the aftermath of this catastrophic defeat and the subsequent failed Vote of No Confidence, what now for Brexit? Some of our writers share their thoughts on the situation.
By Vladimir Ivlev
“The ultimate difference between a truly radical emancipatory politics and populist politics is that the former is active, it imposes and enforces its vision, while populism is fundamentally re-active, the result of a reaction to a disturbing intruder.” – Slavoj Žižek, “First As Tragedy, Then As Farce” (2008)
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the overreaching Soviet social and political structure was replaced with swift liberalization of the markets and a bright promise of democracy. Yet, ironically, the Soviet structures of corruption and authoritarianism remained, giving the elite free reign over the new national civil and economic playgrounds. Two countries, Ukraine and Egypt, both having history in socialist policy, revolted against corruption at more or less concurrently.
By Malick Nythern Doucoure
The Trump administration hits its 90 day landmark this Thursday and a quick glance at its scandals and achievements reveal deep divisions that will scar American politics for the next four years and unfortunately, the same could be said for the next few decades. The US Legislative branch’s de facto policy of Bipartisanship has been a major driving force behind the success of countless committee hearings, bills and senate approvals, thus one cannot emphasise enough the importance of bipartisanship for the maintenance and continuity of the US political scene. 90 days ago, political commentators were writing on the importance of Bipartisanship. Now, political commentators are writing obituaries for it.
By Yury Polyakov
Russian Domestic Politics is probably the most boring subject for all enthusiastic researchers in Russian Studies. Russian people view Vladimir Putin as the new Brezhnev because his style is similar to Brezhnev’s tactics over the Zastoy days. In other words, you can sum up Putin message as ‘Sleep tight, my beloved country’. In 2000, Vladimir Zhirinovsky argued that Putin’s era would be calm and stable. In effect, the LDPR’s leader was right when he said that, as the TV was no longer a debate platform. Likewise, Ex-Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov made another decisive statement when he described Duma as the place which does not exist for political discussions. Personally, I believe that these were obviously gloomy. There have been moments when awful things as the Second Chechen War, Kursk, terrorist acts, Beslan, and several other sad events have occurred in the 2000s.
By Malick Nythern Doucoure
Growing up in multicultural suburban London as a black male in the early 2000s, Race was never a concept at the forefront of my mind. It was only after an instance of what I believe to be racial prejudice, in which I was suspected of shoplifting and invasively physically searched – bearing in mind the fact that I was aged only 11 – that I started to wonder if my race affected people’s attitude and behaviour towards me. Being a rather peculiar and curious 11 year old, I went home that day and went down a rabbit hole of researching racism and its causes, optimistically – and foolishly – thinking I could ‘cure’ people of it.
By Thomas Sherlock
No matter your political leaning, it’s safe to say the election of Donald Trump caused an almighty stir. From protestors literally wailing at his inauguration to his backers celebrating, everyone had expectations of a Trump presidency. Two months in, what has he actually done? In short, not much.
By Megan Harris
At first I thought it was some sick joke, created by my colleague to wind me up as I was leaving our Parliamentary office early for the afternoon.
I told him to not be so stupid and to stop playing games, but panting- he had just sprinted up three flights of stairs- he insisted this was not a joke. Any doubts I had vanished when another colleague came crashing through the door.
The police had shouted at staff to get inside and undercover. Gunshots had been fired on the Parliamentary estate. That was the extent of our knowledge.
