Vol. 26 No. 2 (2025)

In this issue, Laura Minguzzi and Giuseppe Borriello investigate how the contrasting digital strategies of Elly Schlein and Stefano Bonaccini shaped leadership dynamics during the 2023 Partito Democratico primaries. Francesco Lionetto examines the EU’s solidarity contribution on surplus energy profits, arguing that the measure reflects continuity rather than a transformative shift in EU fiscal integration. Muhammad Anugrah Utama analyzes Dutch apologies for colonial violence in Indonesia, showing how selective memory and forms of “colonial aphasia” impede a genuine reckoning with the past.

The Conversations section marks the editorial debut of Marianna Prysiazhnyuk, the journal’s new Conversations Editor. Appropriately, this section is dedicated to the future-oriented theme Democracy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, presenting a set of concise essays that probe emerging democratic dilemmas—from AI-driven disinformation and algorithmic sovereignty to surveillance, access to information, and linguistic inequality. The format is especially well suited to areas where conventional academic research is still nascent, enabling authors to chart conceptual terrain and anticipate political risks before they fully materialize.

Together, the contributions in this issue explore how political actors and institutions navigate digital transformation, crisis governance, and contested historical narratives, revealing the evolving pressures on democratic systems in Europe and beyond. The issue concludes with two book reviews that extend these debates, addressing policy responsiveness and inequality as well as youth political engagement in authoritarian contexts.