At hinge in history, democracies need renewal to survive
Every generation is tempted to think that its challenges are unique. History teaches otherwise. Democracies can die — of that there should be no doubt. But they can also be… Read more »
150 years of data proves autocrats are bad for the economy
Deference to autocratic rulers is not only a bad idea for democracy: It’s terrible for the economy, too, according to a new analysis. The authors of the study published in… Read more »
Weaponization of information ‘mutating at alarming speed’
Communication has been weaponized, used to provoke, mislead and influence the public in numerous insidious ways, argues Sophia Ignatidou, an academy fellow at Chatham House, researching AI, digital communication and… Read more »
Another Tiananmen? Alarming echoes of 1989 in Hong Kong protests
An estimated 1.7 million people took part in a peaceful pro-democracy protest (NYT/CFR) in the city center yesterday, the second-largest demonstration since the protest movement began more than two months… Read more »
How to dismantle a democracy
There are four key signs that democracy is under attack, The Economist observes. The protests in Hong Kong and Russia highlight a paradox: In two of the most… Read more »
‘Strong NGOs and Weak States’ – prioritize democracy over development?
By now it’s no secret: Democracy is under attack worldwide, notes Jeffrey Smith, the founding director of Vanguard Africa and the Vanguard Africa Foundation, which support pro-democracy initiatives and free and… Read more »
Hong Kong: Why China’s propagandists peddle ‘black-hands’ myth
Since he took power seven years ago, President Xi Jinping has faced a growing din of foreign condemnation over his government’s human rights record, a trade war that has sapped… Read more »
Hungary – not an illiberal democracy but a pseudo-democracy
In his essay “Democracy Demotion” (July/August 2019), Larry Diamond claims that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “has presided over the first death of a democracy in an EU member state,”… Read more »
Taiwan launches ‘Silk Road of Democracy’
Last month, Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) sent a delegation to visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama and officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India. The meetings displayed Taiwan’s… Read more »
How China’s corrosive capital impacts CEE governance
China’s economic and political investments in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe have a disturbing ability to influence governance institutions, Prague-based sinologist Martin Hala, the founder… Read more »