Our bi-monthly supplement devoted to books and periodicals, concerning politics and economics, focusing in particular on European integration, as well as on international policy, is also available to non-subscribers, except for the latest edition, which is reserved for subscribers.
L’Ukraine, la République et les oligarques
Sébastien Gobert has lived since 2011 in Ukraine, where he has served as correspondent for Libération, RFI, Mediapart and Le monde diplomatique, amongst others, before joining the NGO Team4UA. In this book, he takes us on a deep dive into the Ukrainian oligarchical system and its many different facets. It falls between the two stools of a saga with all its excesses and the unpicking of the dysfunctional rule of law and mechanisms of [...]
Travellers in Transit
It wouldn’t be Kiosk without a good novel now and again. To travel, enjoy a change of scenery, get far away from the European bubble. This is precisely what Helena Buckinx has to offer with her debut novel, the original Dutch version of which was published in 2021 with the title Reizigers op doorreis. This English translation came out just a few days ago and its title is widely evocative. A traveller for a day, or forever. Just a tourist, an expat, an artist, a [...]
L’Europe et ses défis
This erudite book plunges its readers into history in search of the European identity, before placing before them a highly edifying panorama of the challenges facing Europe.
“First and foremost, we are the children of Rome and Greece, shaped by measure, reason, the conscience of the individual, but also by the excess of power and justice that stems from law. The peak of Jewish and Christian contributions traverse this crude summation by throwing into the western [...]
Les cinq travaux d’Europe
It is always the same story. This critical period every five years, extending from the European election campaign until the new Commission is in place, sees an outpouring of articles detailing the recipe for the future of Europe aimed at the new members of the European Parliament and Commission. Some of it is useful, some of it less so. And they sometimes contain original arguments or recommendations that are helpful or, at the very least, worthy of reflection. [...]
Comprendre les enjeux de la guerre Israël – Hamas
In his capacity as both an historian and a specialist in this area of operations, which he has been studying for 20 years, most notably in the mid-2000s as police officer in the feedback research division for the Middle and Near East at the Forces Employment Doctrine Centre of the Military School in Paris, Michel Goya unpicks the current conflict between Israel and Hamas since the particularly devastating attack of 7 October, taking it [...]
Comment parler d’Europe ?
“Rethinking the way we talk about Europe is more than just an exercise in communication. It is not just a matter of choosing words, working on a ‘narrative’ or challenging governments, which are always tempted to nationalise their successes and pool their failures. Nor is it about drawing on the reservoir of clichés and using them at regular intervals to revive the spirit of the ‘Europe of the Enlightenment’ born in the aristocratic salons of the [...]
Les valeurs de l’Europe
This essay, the outcome of conferences at the Collège de France, is particularly dense read, but no less fascinating for that. Taking inspiration from Hannah Arendt, lecturer in political theory at the Free University of Brussels, Justine Lacroix goes in search of the European values. Steering a course between theory and practice, the history of ideas and contemporary realities, she takes us on a journey to revisit the meaning of European values and gain a [...]
La défense européenne à l’heure de la guerre en Ukraine
In his latest book, Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, editor-in-chief of the online media outlet Bruxelles 2 (B2) and specialist in defence issues, comments on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the reactions of the EU and its member states and its consequences for European politics.
After prefaces by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, the author delivers a [...]
De kolonisten van de Wetstraat
The title, which takes its inspiration from the board game “Settlers of Catan”, hides a well-documented investigation into the funding system of Belgian and European political parties. This investigation takes the reader the full length of the rue de la Loi in Brussels, from the country’s federal and Flemish parliaments to the European quarter. The book highlights the enormous disparity between the rules in place in the Belgian system and the European [...]
D’une autre Europe
In this work, the historian Jean-Yves Potel takes us on a journey to a central Europe which he has travelled at length, for instance having served as cultural adviser to the French Embassy in Warsaw and then as representative of the Shoah Memorial in Poland. It takes the form of a series of meetings, conversations, personal statements and portraits, reflecting the aspirations, frustrations and fears of this “other Europe” (our translation throughout). The backdrop [...]