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.
Albert Schweitzer
“I remain convinced that truth, love, a peaceful spirit, gentleness and goodness are forces superior to any other” (our translation throughout). This quotation, which features on the back cover of this new biography by the historian Matthieu Arnold, gives us a useful insight into what drove this great man from Alsace and important figure of the 20th century. By drawing from the best sources, many for the first time, the author takes us on a journey of (re)discovery [...]
Vers la guerre ?
Although this book, signed by the French Minister for Defence, does not really answer the question – although who can, with any certainty? – it certainly highlights what a dangerous place the world in which we live has become. It also stresses the need for France – but this also applies to all other European countries – to take their responsibilities in terms of rearmament and preparing society as a whole for the many threats it faces, which are complex and [...]
Qui fait l’opinion ?
In this work, which deals with the democratic crises affecting the European countries and the influence of the “new media”, the director of the Observatoire de l’opinion [Observatory of Opinion] of the Fondation Jean Jaurès takes a deep dive into how opinion is formed and how it affects voting participation.
Antoine Bristielle’s starting point is the widely shared view that the first manifestation of the crisis of democratic representation, in France and [...]
Le défi de la paix
In this book, Anne-Cécile Robert, deputy director of the Monde diplomatique and lecturer at the French International and Strategic Relations Institute (IRIS), takes readers back over the history of the international organisations, with particular focus on the United Nations, stressing the importance of breathing new life into them in order to maintain dialogue between States and preserve world peace, before it is too late to do so. Here are a few extracts (our own [...]
Le télétravail : enjeux et perspectives
The Reflection Group on the Future of European Civil Service (GRASPE) devotes its November edition to telework, which now concerns more than 20% of the European population of working age and has been accompanied by “an intensification of work, in that working time has increased due to hyper-connectivity and disruption to the work-life balance” (our translation throughout). “Lurking behind the obvious benefits, such as gaining commuting time [...]
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 [...]