Hong Kong blocks Tiananmen vigil
Hong Kong police rejected an application Monday by organizers for an annual candlelight vigil marking the anniversary this week of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as residents rushed to apply… Read more »
The New Despotism meets China’s ‘Wolf Warrior diplomacy’
China’s “Wolf Warrior diplomacy” is an insult to wolf warriors https://t.co/vO8Pu9QT91 — The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 1, 2020 China’s leadership relishes its role as an ideological challenge to the… Read more »
COVID-19 lockdowns’ political effect: Good news for democracy
Democracy is demonstrating resilience during the Covid pandemic, according to recent research. But….. Will governments around the world use the pandemic to grab more power and override individual rights? Many… Read more »
Index of Public Integrity: The reasons why countries change – or don’t
Even before the latest pandemic crisis, opinions on where the world was going could not have been more split, writes Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. Many scholars who spent their life explaining the… Read more »
How to cultivate resilience amid Covid pandemic
Tiananmen Massacre survivor and former political prisoner Yang Jianli (right) reflects on how poetry helped him endure captivity, and how art can sustain us amidst social distancing. First, we cannot… Read more »
‘Powerful, Different, Equal’? How China mangles history
It’s the culture, stupid. The successes of Hong Kong, Taiwan and the rest of the Chinese diaspora have always been an embarrassment for Beijing, says Arthur Tam, a former editor… Read more »
Hong Kong: ‘It’s Leninist authoritarianism vs liberal constitutionalism’
Since Beijing’s economic reforms began in 1978, Hong Kong has played a unique role — a place where western businesses could dip their toes in the new Chinese economy and… Read more »
The End of World Order? Rebuild ‘core coalition’ of liberal democratic states
Alongside the Cold War conflict with Soviet Russia, COVID-19 is “one of the two greatest tests of the U.S.-led international order since its founding,” according to Robert D. Blackwill,… Read more »
Weaponizing Information in Democratic Societies
Digital communication speeds the spread of all information, true or otherwise. Increasingly, digital campaigns can have physical impacts by manipulating public opinion, eroding the distinction between truth and lie, and poisoning… Read more »
Europe’s New Authoritarianism? COVID-19’s challenge to democracy
While autocratic regimes have tended to take more stringent policy measures to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic spread, such measures appear to be less effective in reducing mobility when compared… Read more »