The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 in a Germany devastated by the Treaty of Versailles and Great Depression, and paralysed by a huge unemployment crisis of over 6 million. Six years later it was arguably the greatest power in Europe, tearing across the continent in relentless pursuit of ‘Lebensraum’. What happened in between might therefore be chalked up to nothing less than an economic miracle. It was not. When defining economic success on the regime’s own terms, namely au

The UK awoke this week to news stories of demonstrations and agitation in the capital alongside a review of the overrunning and overspending on the HS2 rail project. These seemingly disparate stories tell another story, however, when linked together. In part, the reason we have creaking sclerotic bureaucracy capable of blowing £100bn on – well, it is hard to say what exactly is being delivered in return – is the same reason extremist groups are able to galvanise large number

Reform UK’s burgeoning popularity has never stemmed from policy alone. A central pillar of its appeal has long rested in the promise of purification; an anti-establishment, anti-corruption party supposedly untainted by the deceitful Westminster habits that have set Labour and the Conservatives hurtling towards electoral devastation come 2029. If polls are to be believed, this gambit will reap lucrative electoral dividends for Nigel Farage’s latest insurgency project. But the

Spanish politics has undergone profound transformations in the last decade. The shift from a relatively stable two-party system to a fragmented and highly polarised multi-party system has not only reshaped the electoral landscape but has also weakened the capacity for dialogue in the Congress of Deputies. The emergence of new forces to the left of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and to the right of the People's Party (PP) did not revitalise Spanish democracy; on t