Sweden’s social democrats dominated politics for half a century. But continuous power bred arrogance, ideology and eventual economic stagnation.
The crisis of meritocracy is a crisis of dignity. We need to find new ways to value what people are good at.
A failing school system has eroded meritocracy in America. But innovative educators are turning the tide.
Although merit is an age-old idea, the West’s post-60s culture of narcissism reshaped it in novel ways, spurring the rise of smug meritocrats.
Male-dominated music is no meritocracy. But look beyond chart rankings and sales, and the work of true artists endures.
The transfer market rewards footballers on merit. If only the same could be said about managerial performance.
The French Revolution spawned a new age of opportunity for the many to make it to high office. Or did it?
Post-1871 Imperial Germany’s embrace of meritocratic ideals was only skin deep.
Not all women in ancient Greece benefited from the advent of democracy – but exceptions like Aspasia are a source of inspiration today.
Rainer Maria Rilke’s masterpiece extends the dimensions of poetic discourse and offers a fresh view of humanity.
The massive international stature of Handel’s success seems to have irked Bach’s acolytes enough for them to fashion a false binary which to an extent persists to this day.
Inhospitable Greenland is no longer a geopolitical wasteland. New opportunities are spawning competition for the island.
Cats are the winners from pandemic lockdowns. We could learn a thing or two from them.
Culture wars are as old as politics itself – and far from being inauthentic confections, they cut to the heart of real, living disagreements about history, identity, nationhood and belonging.
Let’s do away with moralising about music and take pure pleasure in the work of composers of the past.
Our enduring fascination with celebrity body parts reminds us of the frailty of being human.
As Britons fulfil their Census obligations this week, they’ll do well to take a note from Sir Ernest Benn’s libertarian resistance to bureaucracy.
The brief re-opening of the Rodin Museum’s gardens gave Parisians a bewitching respite from their everyday cares.
Set amidst the ruins of the ancien régime in his native Normandy, Barbey’s masterpiece is bewitched by the spectre of dead priests and a community torn by struggle.
Women played a vital role in the early history of botany – let’s not reduce their contribution to kitsch romance.
As Proust noted, our incremental memories of the world are the foundation of our lives – but where have they gone?
Engelsberg Ideas is brought to you by The Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit
Stureplan 3, SE 103 75 Stockholm, Sweden editors@engelsbergideas.com www.axsonjohnsonfoundation.org
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