People have a pent-up need for discussion’, remarks Finnish journalist Johanna Korhonen, winding up this week’s launch of a Counterpoint series on oD exploring rising right wing populism in Europe, and asking how to retrieve support for our democracies. We learn about a contrasting case of failed consensus in the Netherlands; the ease of stigma in Denmark; and Greece’s self-defeating ‘national exceptionalism’ as compared with ‘identity populism’ being a ‘no-go area’ in Germany.

On openDemocracy last week the unfolding tale of Iceland’s innovative constitutional experiment is deconstructed by Thorhildur Thorleifsdottir, Kristinn Már Ársælsson looks at the lessons learned, arguing for randomly selected citizen assemblies, and we have an inside view from a former member of the Constitutional Council.

With just one week left until the US picks its President, openDemocracy continues its series of global viewpoints on the election, How it Looks From Here.

Is there another way forward for Europe? Mary Kaldor and Sabine Selchow introduce our theme of the week, looking at the continent’s Subterranean Politics. Its frustration and inventiveness are evoked by Geoffrey Pleyers; new ways of decision-making challenge German democracy and attract David Budde; the indignados inspire trade unions in Italy and in Spain; Hungarians are not alone in asking on whose side is the EU; and Londoners put the European back into their global city. The team mull over what they have found in ‘Re-imagining Europe’, while Sean Deel updates us on the first transnational direct democratic tool ever.

A week that saw the death of the first person to set foot on the moon and the start of the global Paralympic games is a reminder of how far human ingenuity and imagination can reach. OpenDemocracy continues to ask whether these qualities can be applied to solving shared, collective problems - from extremist violence in Norway and conflict in Syria to corruption in Russia and childbirth mortality in Chad.

At openDemocracy this week, critical gazes fell upon a variety of tactics, strategies and individuals. Drones are like suicide bombs – only without the suicides, explains Paul Rogers: the US and its allies might use them with great enthusiasm today, but live to regret it if they inspire jihadists to make their own.

In the week of the ruling on Breivik’s sentence, we begin and end on what this means for Norway and the world. Robert Lambert looks at implications for security, Pål Grøndahl at what constitutessanity in the eyes of the law, while Kjetil Østli, who covered both the events and the trial, has written a haunting narrative on theimpossibility of justice.