Category: Analysis

EU moves to counter autocrats’ influence in the Balkans

     

  The European Union sought on Tuesday to reinvigorate the membership ambitions of six Balkan states and reclaim the region as its own amid growing Russian and Chinese influence, setting… Read more »

Vatican ‘capitulates’ to China – a sign of Beijing’s growing sharp power?

     

China and the Vatican will establish formal diplomatic relations sooner or later because Pope Francis has the “wisdom” to resolve problems between the two sides, a state-run Chinese newspaper said… Read more »

‘Hyperdemocratization’ not to blame for western democracies’ ills

     

While concerns about illiberalism, populism, and majoritarianism are certainly well-founded, blaming such phenomena on an “excess” of democracy is not, notes Barnard College professor Sheri Berman, a contributor to the… Read more »

Authoritarian Advance: Responding to China’s Growing Political Influence

     

Two new studies suggest that Europe’s embrace of China, even as it warns against Russian meddling, might benefit from a certain degree of wariness. When it comes to Beijing, they argue,… Read more »

Dancing with danger? Europe’s populists ‘waltzing into the mainstream’

     

Central Europe’s populist revolt against the EU isn’t about safeguarding the West, notes Dalibor Rohac, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. It’s about rolling back freedoms and cozying… Read more »

China’s sharp power makes democracies ‘look like strategic amateurs’

     

Has China’s sharp power offensive left the West’s democracies looking ‘like strategic amateurs’? An opinion piece by Chinese media outlet Caixin Global is touting the idea of “globalism with Chinese… Read more »

Truth Decay: How does online activism affect democracy?

     

UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivered her sharpest rebuke yet to the tech industry on Thursday, in a keynote address to the World Economic Forum that focused on the digital… Read more »

Russian trolls ‘only part of the disinformation problem’

     

Russian agents created 129 events on the social media network during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to Facebook’s testimony to Congress, shedding more light on Russia’s purported disinformation drive… Read more »