Category: Authoritarianism

Blending realism and idealism to defend democracy

     

  The post-war consolidation of Western Europe’s fragile democracies was secured through an unprecedented initiative that matched interests to ideas and established the institutions that underpinned the post-war liberal order…. Read more »

China’s ‘next ideological front’: democracies need joint strategies to counter Beijing’s sharp power

     

US Republican senator Marco Rubio has called on Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump to work together to develop joint strategies to counter China’s growing political interference, The Australian reports: Senator… Read more »

Venezuela: one of 21st century’s ‘most impressive defenses of democracy’ – and yet …..

     

President Nicolas Maduro said that Venezuela raised $735 million in early sales of its new “petro” cryptocurrency, launched amid deepening financial and political crises in the country, the Council on… Read more »

A ‘good populism’: will 2018 be as revolutionary as 1968?

     

A new generation of rebels is rising in Europe, this time from the right, with echoes of the huge protest movements of 50 years ago, argues Ivan Krastev, the chairman… Read more »

Does democracy catalyze destructive dynamics of political tribalism?

     

American politics today has as much in common with the developing world as it does with Europe, according to Yale University’s Amy Chua. Time and again, vote-seeking demagogues with few… Read more »

‘Social Media as Information Warfare’: countering adversary threats to democratic institutions

     

One hour after news broke about the school shooting in Florida last week, Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia released hundreds of posts taking up the gun control debate, The… Read more »

Principled realism: National Security Strategy ‘prudently’ advances democratic values

     

THE HALLMARK of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS), which was released in December, is the idea of “principled realism.” This marks a decided shift from the policies of Trump’s two… Read more »

West must address vulnerabilities to China’s authoritarian influencing

     

China’s rapidly increasing political influencing efforts and the self-confident promotion of its authoritarian ideals present a fundamental challenge to western democracies, analysts Thorsten Benner and Kristin Shi-Kupfer write for The… Read more »

Majoritarianism or populism the biggest threat to democracy?

     

Hope that the populist wave had peaked appears misplaced, argues Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. Over the next two years, populists… Read more »

Democracy and disinformation: Russia will interfere in 2018 elections, say officials

     

Top U.S. national security officials said on Tuesday they had “no doubt” Russia will try to interfere in the 2018 U.S. mid-term elections, adding Moscow believes it succeeded in its… Read more »