José Ignacio Torreblanca

José Ignacio Torreblanca joined the European Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Madrid Office in September 2007. Previously he spent three years at the Madrid's based Elcano Royal Institute for International Affairs as Senior Analyst for EU affairs.

The Alabama syndrome

The European Union is not the United States; Germany is not Massachusetts; and Greece is not Alabama, more’s the pity.

By José Ignacio Torreblanca

/ 28 May 2012

Democracy put to the test

Just as the mechanisms that made democracy function in city states were not adequate for governing nation states, representative democracies today are showing themselves incapable of managing, effectively and democratically, the system that is emerging in Europe. Updated.

By José Ignacio Torreblanca

/ 28 Nov 2011

Five reasons why Europe is cracking up

In Germany, France and Italy, but also in many other places, we find ourselves confronted with a generation of leaders ever more shortsighted and given over to electioneering: among them, none speak to Europe nor for Europe.

By José Ignacio Torreblanca

/ 3 Jun 2011