Category: Authoritarianism

Kremlin-sponsored anti-Americanism a common denominator for Europe’s left and right

     

Over the past few years, anti-Americanism has become an integral part of any debate on foreign and domestic policy in Russia, notes Anton Barbashin, a managing editor at Intersection. You… Read more »

Autocrats using ‘toxic election’ to pour scorn on democracy

     

Russia, China and Iran are among several authoritarian regimes seeking to use the U.S. election as an opportunity to project soft power, to undermine the attractiveness of liberal democracy, and… Read more »

Ideologues and inertia stall Cuban reform

     

The Cuban economy is in tatters and the regime is backtracking on promises of reform, while human-rights groups say that beatings and detentions of dissidents have soared since the U.S…. Read more »

Is ‘Populist International’ Undermining Western Democracy?

     

Europe’s populists share ideas and ideology, friends and funders, notes analyst Anne Applebaum. They cross borders to appear at one another’s rallies. They have deep contacts in Russia — they… Read more »

‘Zealous democrats’? Call to redefine political Islam

     

The definition of ‘political Islam’ should be narrowed to recognize that many Islamic political movements share democratic values, according to a report by an influential committee of British MPs. The… Read more »

Repression without Borders: The Long Arm of Authoritarian Regimes

     

Immigrant groups remain subject to authoritarian repression even after they leave their homelands, according to new research by Dr. Dana Moss, a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh. However, these… Read more »

West must focus on countering Russian disinformation

     

The president of Bulgaria is the latest figure to warn that Russia is trying to divide and weaken Europe, the BBC reports: Rosen Plevneliev warned of Russian influence in his… Read more »

What the West can do to contain Russia’s aggression, disinformation

     

Even before the December 2011 protests — and his own reelection as president in March 2012 — Vladimir Putin had begun signaling the return of a more authoritarian and aggressive… Read more »

‘Hogra’ protests test Morocco’s Makhzen

     

Grainy video images and the screams of a young fishmonger who was crushed to death in a garbage truck while trying to stop police destroying his stock have shocked Moroccans… Read more »

China’s ‘anxious’ core leader learned lessons from Soviet collapse, Arab Spring

     

Even in a moment of triumph, China’s president, Xi Jinping, exudes anxiety. Since the Communist Party gave Mr. Xi the exalted title of “core leader” last week, it has built… Read more »