Author Archives: DemDigest

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 »

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 »

‘Strong Yet Brittle’: Digital authoritarianism less resilient than democracy

     

Authoritarian governments increasingly adopt technology-centric national strategies and methods of internal governance. They control their societies through digital censorship, propaganda, and surveillance, and use these same tools to manipulate foreign… Read more »

Turkey & Russia: Not autocratic birds of the same feather

     

Democracies can reset themselves by changing governments through elections. Modern Russia cannot, says Alexander Baunov, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center and Editor in Chief of Carnegie.ru. By the confluence… Read more »

‘Nuclear option’ spells beginning of the end for Hong Kong’s one-country, two-systems

     

SPORTING A HELMET, goggles and a respirator, the uniform of Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters, Lady Liberty raises her left arm to the sky—or rather, to the ceiling (see below). She… Read more »

Why democracies have the edge in coping with crisis

     

Throughout the centuries, competitors of the prevailing system have known that disaster presents them with an opportunity. Writing about the Black Death, which culled more than 40 per cent of… Read more »