From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the second Iraqi War, the word “freedom” arguably meant theft, neocolonization, military invasion, torture and uprooting. But democracy should be taken back and made to serve a politics of the alternative.

‘We won’t pay for your crisis’ is a frequent refrain of protest throughout the continent. The reality is we will all pay for the crisis in one way or another: we must make sure that the crisis leads to a more just, equal and democratic society. As the crisis is being dealt with at a transnational European level, alternative propositions must be made at this level.

Thousands of British citizens are expected to give their votes in the UK general elections to people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ghana arguing decisions by UK politicians affect the people in those countries.

It is time for the EU to move away from its inegalitarian policies towards the countries of the South. A revived European left must come up with a plan for restructuring a profoundly unjust global economic system.

The ‘democratic deficit’ in the European Union is one of the few things that almost everyone knows about it. We have started a campaign for the Parliament to insist that it has the dominant role in deciding the policies of the Union.

European social democracy needs a fresh start. In the wake of the most severe economic crisis in decades, social Europe Journal is organising a pan-European online debate. Contributors from all over Europe will publish their views on the “Good Society”.

Daniele Archibugi has recently advocated a new cosmopolitan political framework. In this interview he lays out some of the key features of his project.