France’s Anti-Liberal Left
In the ideas of Jean-Claude Michéa, we can see what a left populism fully divorced from liberalism might look like.
Spring 2025
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An Interview with Jean-Claude Michéa
A conversation with the French writer and intellectual profiled in our spring issue.
Irreconcilable Lefts: An Interview with Kévin Boucaud-Victoire
In our last issue, Michael C. Behrent examined Jean-Claude Michéa’s “subterranean influence on a new generation of anti-capitalist radicals in France.” Here, he talks with Kévin Boucaud-Victoire, a young member of the Michéa-influenced French left.
After the EU Elections
What do the recent elections for the European Parliament tell us about political developments across the continent?
The Roots of the French Far Right’s Rise
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is reaping the fruits of a long history of anti-European sentiment.
The European Far Right’s Environmental Turn
As climate change becomes a central concern for voters across the continent, right-wing parties are beginning to incorporate green politics into their ethno-nationalist vision.
Fracture and Polarization in the EU
With just six out of twenty-eight EU member states having nominally left-wing governments, the left needs to consolidate and build coalitions both nationally and at the European level.
France’s Philosopher-Presidents
Emmanuel Macron’s recent eight-hour debate with dozens of academics follows a long line of French leaders who champion intellectual discourse. But you can’t read your way out of a crisis.
A Show of Strength for Climate Justice
At Friday’s climate strike and the protests that followed, the “convergence of struggles” long championed by the French left began to take shape. A dispatch from Paris.
How Liberalism Failed
After decades of relative stability, Western elites forgot how precious and precarious liberal democracy really is.
Whose Populism? The Mixed Messages of La France Insoumise
Claiming the mantle of populism, La France Insoumise has sought to transcend the left and build a new coalition to transform French politics. But the group’s commitment to pluralism is already revealing limits.
Anti-Semitism vs. Democracy in Poland
The passage this month of Poland’s notorious “Holocaust Bill” should be a warning to those who ignore the link between anti-Semitism and growing authoritarianism.
The Puzzle of Poland
A quiet but fierce war is raging for the hearts and minds of Polish citizens, as a vibrant and well organized protest network confronts an increasingly authoritarian right-wing government.
The Logic of Populism 
Jan-Werner Müller’s understanding of populism is built on a theory of anti-totalitarianism designed for an enemy that no longer exists.
France: The Death of the Elephants
With this year’s elections, French politics has become less predictable than at any time since the founding of the Fifth Republic. It remains to be seen whether this volatility will reward the left—or the populist far right.
