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About Kirsty Hughes

Kirsty Hughes has been commenting on European and international politics for thinktanks and media for the last twenty years. She has worked at Chatham House in the UK and written for Friends of Europe and the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. She has written extensively for the international media, both news analysis and opinion, as well commenting on current affairs, including for the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. She is currently Senior Associate Fellow, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford.

Articles by Kirsty Hughes

Tuesday 31st January

Another summit, another bleak day for European democracy

Kirsty Hughes, 31 January 2012
The new 'fiscal compact' treaty agreed at Monday's summit aims to take vital economic policy choices out of the reach of democratic decision-making. Beyond that, there is no new thinking, nothing to stimulate growth, nothing to give some hope to the 23 million unemployed – and those who will join them as the recession deepens.
Monday 16th January

EU democracy in crisis: mired in a perfect storm or rebounding?

Kirsty Hughes, 16 January 2012
If the heart of the crisis lies in the politics – including in the politics of the economic policy choices being made – then solutions may lie, not in yet more EU institutional changes and the creation of an austerity union, but in the practice and the dynamism of democratic European politics. But a certain tradition of creating a theoretically more democratic Europe for the people even if they do not seem to want it has deep roots in the EU elites. So far, this hasn't worked.
Tuesday 20th December

The UK and Europe: how much damage did Cameron's veto do?

Kirsty Hughes, 20 December 2011
Reactions are still rolling in, just over a week after Cameron's veto. Was it the tantrum of an 'obstinate kid'? Whatever reasons he had, he has relegated the UK to the sidelines of Europe.
Monday 12th December

The five follies of David Cameron

Kirsty Hughes, 12 December 2011
Perhaps now, as the eurozone and the entire EU struggles to survive, there will have to be a serious debate in the UK about the EU.
Monday 5th December

Euro end-game or end of crisis? Eurozone heads into critical summit

Kirsty Hughes, 5 December 2011
There will be huge sighs of relief if the potential political and economic catastrophe of a break-up of the euro is avoided. But a return to 'normal' politics it will not be.
Thursday 24th November

The UK's vanishing European influence

Kirsty Hughes, 24 November 2011
The UK has a choice over whether to be a small player on the margins of Europe. But to become so without any serious national debate is surely a major error.
Tuesday 17th June

Turkey's judicial-political crisis

Kirsty Hughes, 17 June 2008
Turkey's political fissures test its stability and put its orientation towards Europe in question
Wednesday 21st December

Britain through Indian eyes

Kirsty Hughes, 21 December 2005
Kirsty Hughes returns to her homeland after almost a year in south Asia and sees a different country.
Thursday 23rd June

Tamil Nadu after the tsunami: hopes and obstacles

Kirsty Hughes, 23 June 2005
Their world turned upside down in the great Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Six months on, the fishing communities of southeast India struggle to rebuild their lives. Kirsty Hughes reports from a forgotten frontline of reconstruction.
Tuesday 31st May

France's 'non', Holland's 'nee', Europe's crisis

Kirsty Hughes, 31 May 2005
“The European Union is at a major turning-point. It has attempted, through an unprecedented process of open debate and dialogue, to design a strategic role and direction for itself in the 21st century. For now it has failed.” Kirsty Hughes on Europe’s crisis of democracy.
Wednesday 8th October

Zanzibar: in the eye of the storm

Kirsty Hughes, 8 October 2003
An Indian Ocean microcosm of global politics – democracy, development, and election fraud, arguments over sovereignty, violence and pluralism – what can Zanzibar teach the world? Kirsty Hughes talks to Juma Duni Haji, a leader of its main opposition party, the Civic United Front.
Thursday 5th June

The Convention endgame: beyond bad bargains?

Kirsty Hughes and Giovanni Grevi, 5 June 2003
Two Brussels insiders review the logjam over proposals for how Europe shall be governed, and the bargains being sought behind closed doors over crucial questions of institutions and power-balance.
Tuesday 18th February

Transatlantic meltdown over Iraq: is France villain or hero?

Kirsty Hughes, 18 February 2003
France’s reluctance to support the US’s military approach towards Iraq has drawn bitter criticism from the US and some of its EU partners. But in defending diplomacy rather than advocating a military solution, France is the truer defender both of the European project and, in the long run, of the transatlantic relationship.
Sunday 22nd September

A constitution for Europe: where is the real debate?

Kirsty Hughes, 22 September 2002
There is a clear route to enlargement after the Irish referendum, but the constitutional convention debate is stifled by the self-serving ambitions of the large states. A healthy debate about Europe’s democratic deficit requires the convention itself to take a lead.
Tuesday 13th August

Democracy takes a back seat

Kirsty Hughes, 13 August 2002
The prospects for engaging Europe’s citizens in the debate on the future of the Union are still hostage to the power politics of the member states.
Wednesday 27th February

US and Europe fall out in the fight against terrorism

Kirsty Hughes, 27 February 2002
Why should the EU hugely increase its military capacities in order to argue for a non-military solution?
Wednesday 19th December

Dissecting Laeken: a personal view

Kirsty Hughes, 19 December 2001
The ambitious policy decisions agreed by the EU at its Belgian summit carry both promise and threat for the community’s future. Europe needs both to deepen its cooperation and remain open to the world. After Laeken, will it?
Thursday 27th September

Europe united?

Kirsty Hughes, 27 September 2001
Can the EU rise to the challenge of 11 September and respond to this crisis with a unity it failed to deliver on the Balkans?
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