Category: Analysis

Russia’s test lab for cyberwar: social media ‘democratize propaganda’

     

In Russia’s shadow, the decades-old nightmare of hackers stopping the gears of modern society has become a reality in Ukraine, Andy Greenberg writes for Wired: And the blackouts weren’t just… Read more »

‘Reckless Exploit’ – Mexican journalists, activists targeted by spyware

     

Mexican journalists, lawyers and activists were targeted by spyware that is sold exclusively to governments, according to an internet watchdog group’s investigation published Monday, AP reports: Titled “Reckless Exploit,” the… Read more »

How to combat disinformation without falling into trap of counter-propaganda

     

The recent decision by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to ban popular Russian social networks VKontakte (VK) and Odnoklassniki, on May 15 (see EDM, June 7), provoked serious debate both inside Ukraine… Read more »

Helmut Kohl’s lessons for the West

     

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl will be remembered by many as a giant of epochal times that remade Europe’s political architecture, dismantled the minefields and watchtowers of the Iron Curtain… Read more »

Southeast Europe: strengthen democracy to counter malign foreign influence

     

US withdrawal from the Balkans, mainly due to the absence of a consistent foreign policy agenda, has created a vacuum of leadership that other political actors are trying to assume…. Read more »

What democratic renewal looks like?

     

  Emmanuel Macron, the new French president, is about to achieve something extraordinary: His brand-new centrist party, Republic on the Move, is on track to win a sweeping, unprecedented majority… Read more »

Bolivia’s resource windfall squandered by populist mismanagement, hyper-corruption

     

  Across Latin America, one high-level scandal after another has tainted current or recent presidents or vice-presidents in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Mexico, among others, Simeon Tegel writes for US News:… Read more »

The Rise of Ethnonationalism and the Future of Liberal Democracy

     

Ethnonationalism is another of several distinctive challenges to liberal democracy, notes Stewart M. Patrick, Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. He… Read more »

Russia’s ‘surreal’ protests show fraying of social contract

     

  The latest wave of protests in Russia is too diverse and divergent to be unified by a single political leader, platform, or slogan—though there is one motto that people… Read more »