Romania corruption protests: government surrender or strategic retreat?
Is there any other country in Europe where the No. 2 politician (head of the Senate) and the No 3 politician (head of the Chamber of Deputies), who have just… Read more »
Category: Central/Eastern Europe
Democratic Reform in Ukraine
With conflict flaring in the East and high profile corruption investigations in Kyiv, Ukraine is at the forefront of the global struggle for democracy and the U.S.’s evolving Russia policy…. Read more »
‘Cultural counter-revolution’ tests Polish democracy
Divisions have heightened as the scope of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party’s ambition has become clear: to roll back the social liberalism that has flourished since communism collapsed and shift… Read more »
Eclipse of the West’s soft power?
While the resurgent authoritarians of Russia and China are investing in the expansion of soft power, that of the Western democracies is dwindling, analysts suggest. The European Union’s approach to… Read more »
Canada’s new FM a critic of Russia’s ‘authoritarian kleptocracy’
Canada has named Chrystia Freeland, a prominent critic of Russia who was banned by Moscow in 2014, as its new minister of foreign affairs, The Guardian reports: In 2014,… Read more »
Bipartisan initiative aimed at countering Russian hostilities
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators today introduced a bill Tuesday that would increase sanctions against Russia, VOA reports. The sanctions bill, dubbed the “Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017,”… Read more »
Why the West is failing to counter Kremlin disinformation
Ten years ago, in the wake of the murder of the leading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya (left), a popular comedian-turned-blogger in Italy named Beppe Grillo urged tens of thousands of… Read more »
Kosovo: Dynamics of Radicalization and Violent Extremism
The historical, cultural, geopolitical, and socio-economic factors behind violent extremism in Kosovo, and why a disproportionately high number of radicalized fighters from the country are operating in Syria and Iraq… Read more »
Civil society countering Ukraine’s ‘corrupt counter-revolution’
In Ukraine, revolution and reform has given way to reaction, with vested interests entrenching themselves even further, notes Sergii Leshchenko, a Ukrainian journalist and a member of the Verkhovna Rada. Today,… Read more »
Do ‘Grand Bargains’ work?
Do ‘Grand Bargains’ help facilitate democratic transitions? At the time, the Helsinki Accords of 1975 did not seem like a game-changer, notes Edward Lucas, a senior editor at The Economist…. Read more »