Arthur Goldhammer is a writer, translator, and Affiliate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard. He blogs at French Politics. Follow him on Twitter: @artgoldhammer.
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Arthur Goldhammer
Europe’s Winter of Discontent
Domestic political turmoil in the European Union’s four largest economies spells trouble ahead. Read more
AP Photo/Francisco Seco
The Permanent Becomes Ephemeral: Merkel Steps Back
In Germany, Angela Merkel announces her intention to step down as party leader. What are the implications for the European Union? Read more
Kay Nietfeld/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Is Another Youth Rebellion in the Making?
It’s been half a century since young people around the world asserted that the times were “a-changin’.” Could another youth rebellion be in the making? Read more
Rex Features via AP Images
Germany: Can the Center Hold?
Coalition talks between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Martin Schulz’s Social Democrats have begun. Will the German center hold, or will the talks end in collapse and an end of the Merkel era? Read more
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The French Right Goes Wrong
France’s Republican Party has chosen a new leader, Laurent Wauquiez, who did not hesitate to divide the party in order to conquer it. Now, having expelled his erstwhile comrades of the center-right, he has no alternative but to try to poach voters from the extremist Front National. Read more
AP Photo/Eddie Adams, File
Dredging Memory
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's new documentary is an immemorial tale of men at war, almost Homeric in its directness and simplicity. Read more
AP Photo/Michael Sohn
Germany Votes
In this year’s federal election, Angela Merkel won a fourth term, but the German far-right achieved its strongest showing since World War II. Read more
France and Germany: An Aging Couple Carries On
Merkel and Macron need each other, as emblems of a still vital European center. But can Macron deliver more than symbols, and will Merkel take her foot off Europe’s oxygen hose? Read more
AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Party Realignment in France
The election of Emmanuel Macron as the next president of France could presage a dramatic party realignment. Read more
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
France Avoids the Worst
In the first round of the French presidential election, voters shocked everyone by doing exactly what the polls predicted they would do. Round two will make 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron the youngest French president and the first not to be a member of one of the two major parties. Read more
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Rumbling on the Left in France
Given up for dead just a few weeks ago, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has come roaring back and threatens to turn the French presidential race upside down. Read more
Eliot Blondet/Sipa USA via AP Images
Some Versions of Utopia
Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow. The art of politics is to illuminate the landscape while casting the smallest possible shadow. The five of 11 French presidential candidates standing highest in the polls will face off tonight in a televised debate. Read more
Rex Features via AP Images
Twisting Slowly in the French Wind
François Fillon, who at the end of last year looked like a sure bet to become the next president of France, has been repudiated by many in his own party in the wake of a scandal involving the misuse of government funds for his own benefit. His campaign manager and chief spokesperson have resigned. Where does this leave the increasingly surreal French presidential race? Read more
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Hidden in the Algorithms
A new book argues that data science may serve to reinforce inequality. Read more
AP Photo/Dave Pickoff
The Black Condition and the American Condition
Raoul Peck’s masterful film about James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro, reminds us that we are not free to choose the condition of our existence—a useful reminder at a time when the president insists that fear of the alien is the defining characteristic of the American condition. Read more
AP Photo/Francois Mori
France Chooses a New President
The 2017 presidential race in France has already produced one major upset and may yet see several others before a new president is chosen in May. Whatever happens, the Fifth Republic is no longer the regime Charles de Gaulle conceived in his own image nearly 60 years ago. Nor is the Socialist Party the force that François Mitterrand conceived in his own image a decade and a half later. The end of an era has arrived. Read more
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Interregnum
Can Donald Trump govern the United States as he presided over The Apprentice? The president-elect brings his genius for cruelty and delight in humiliating competitors to the White House. Read more
AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Will Marine Le Pen Become France’s Next President?
Next spring’s French presidential contest is shaping up as a battle between the right and the far right. Will a majority coalesce around the right-wing candidate to keep the far right out of power as in 2002? Will a viable challenger emerge on the left? Don’t bet on it. The world has changed, and so has the Front National. Read more
Bernard BISSON/JDD/SIPA/1505311317 (Sipa via AP Images)
In France, Another Stunning Election Upset
Former Prime Minister François Fillon crushes the opposition in the first round of the primary for the presidential nomination of the center-right Republican primary. The winner of the runoff could well become France’s next president—if he can beat Marine Le Pen. Read more
