Politics, Society
Tariq Ramadan
I am European
To say ‘I am European’ implies, first and foremost, an open identity, support for transnational solidarity and acceptance of international responsibilities.
Essays
Nexus has been publishing essays in Dutch on art, culture, politics and philosophy for over twenty years. Now, we are making some of the best essays from our archive available in English online. The essays are available to our members and supporters. New essays will be added regularly.
Nederlandstalige essays uit het tijdschrift vindt u aan de Nederlandse kant van de website.
Politics, Society
Allan Janik
On being European
Citizens of European national states who want to become Europeans today do well to remind themselves of the ideas that guided Robert Schuman’s efforts to heal the wounds of a society that had all but self-destructed in the course of the two world wars. To re-examine the roots of his thinking is to re-discover perhaps the most important of well-springs of European unity.
History, Politics, Society
Adin Steinsaltz
I am European
To sum up: the spirit of contemporary Europe is like that of a person past middle age, a semi-retired gentleman. Things have quieted down; most of the ferocious struggles of olden times are now abating.
Art, Culture, Philosophy
Lesley Chamberlain
Van Gogh and the light around a pair of boots
In Cuesmes, Van Gogh learnt about physical work, and philosophy after him embroidered the significance of work.
Rob Riemen
Tomb or Treasure? Nietzsche and Van Gogh discuss The Future of Western Civilization
On the occasion of the Nexus Conference 2023
Politics
Lilia Shevtsova
How the West is accommodating the Kremlin
The postmodern, transactional leaderships of Europe today find themselves poorly equipped to respond to the challenges posed by the Russian System, which is why the Western responses inevitably slide into accommodationism.
Nelofer Pazira
Flight and identity: the story of Cordoba, Kabul and my father’s suit
History, Politics, Society
Peter Frankopan
Götterdämmerung: Who – or What – will Rule the World ?
Society
John Maynard Keynes
Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren
Society
Robert Skidelsky
How Much Is Enough?
Insatiability is inherent in the human condition, but in pre-modern times its exercise was controlled by hierarchy, custom, and morals. Capitalism has unchained insatiability and, indeed, made it the principal motor of our civilisation.
Politics, Society
Rob Riemen
The War and the Future
On the occasion of the Nexus Conference 2022: The War and the Future
Culture, History, Politics, Society
Robert Cooper
Hope and Dover Beach
The big questions today are whether politics has been or will be captured by the forces of darkness – so that we will be robbed of our hopes and our future; and whether, having lost faith in faith, we are now going to lose faith in politics too
Culture, Politics
William Deresiewicz
Wokeness on Campus: The Reign of Stupidity
There are no competing ideologies or rival schools [...] There is only assent. And when there’s but a single ideology, it isn’t just an ideology. It’s a religion. Its ideas aren’t ideas; they are dogmas.
History, Politics
Richard J. Evans
Brexit: Refighting the Second World War
Football has sometimes been described as a substitute for war
Politics
Kate Brown
Kiss the Ground: Life Support in Controlled Environments
MIT Professor Kate Brown on how consumerism is eating away a just and livable future
Philosophy
Humberto Beck
The Return of Ivan Illich in Times of Corona
It will depend on us whether the coronavirus will result in a new catastrophe, or in a new beginning.
History
Simon Winder
Goodbye to History
The author of Danubia and Germania shows what we can learn from 20th-century German history.
Humanism, Philosophy
George Steiner
The Life of the Mind
Can the life of the mind, the love of truth and beauty, be sustained in a time of materialism and mass democracy?
History
Catherine Nixey
The Evil of Christianity
‘Good’ and ‘evil’ as fundamentally opposed came into the world with Christianity. This wasn’t good.
Philosophy
Bernard-Henri Lévy & Aleksandr Dugin
The Return of Settembrini and Naphta in the 21st Century
Lévy and Dugin fight for the soul of Europe in the spirit of Thomas Mann’s Settembrini and Naphta.
Philosophy
Antonio Damasio
Arcadia, But Not for Long
What should we choose: ‘Broadway Boogie-Woogie’, colorful, edgy, expanding modern urbanity – or a rustic hill overlooking an Alpine lake?
Literature
G.K. Chesterton
A Defence of China Shepherdesses
There are ideal conceptions and real men in every calling.
Politics
Ana Palacio
The Mutating World
Ana Palacio charts the history of the baby boomers and analyses threats to liberal democracy today.
History
Adrienne Clarkson
A Refugee’s Life
The story of how a child of Chinese refugees who came to Canada as a two-year-old became Governor-General.