Category: China

Dictatorships always a step away from legitimacy crisis

     

  A ”third wave” of autocratization which first gained momentum in the mid 1990’s has developed across the world, says the annual report of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project…. Read more »

China’s new media dilemma: profit in online dissent?

     

What explains China’s almost unique path to wealth without democracy? Fareed Zakaria asks. Yuen Yuen Ang of the University of Michigan argues that over the past few decades, China has… Read more »

Can new social contract restore faith in democracy?

     

Labor unions have played a critical role in democratic transitions, in sustaining democracy and  as civil society groups advancing pluralism and democratic norms. So the latest annual Global Rights Index from the… Read more »

How Hong Kong defied Xi Jinping

     

For Communist party officials, it was an embarrassing rebuke: as many as 2m residents of a major Chinese city marching to demand the resignation of its Beijing-appointed leader. And because… Read more »

How to stop China exporting AI-driven digital authoritarianism

     

A United States senator is pushing to ban countries including China from an influential US government accuracy test of facial recognition technology, potentially opening up a new front in the escalating tech war… Read more »

China blinks: what Beijing’s Hong Kong retreat says about Taiwan’s future

     

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers aren’t satisfied with leader Carrie Lam’s public apology for how the government handled a highly unpopular extradition bill. Legislator Claudia Mo said Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s apology… Read more »

Challenging illiberal democracy’s ‘post truth’ world. Is the tide shifting?

     

Illiberal regimes have had a good run, but perhaps the tide is shifting. “Protesters poured into [Hong Kong’s] streets for a second Sunday despite the suspension of a controversial bill to expand… Read more »

Two democracies in Beijing’s shadow. Today’s Hong Kong, tomorrow’s Taiwan?

     

  Only a fool would predict a happy ending to the Hong Kong story, but it is also foolish to assume that history will follow a predictable course, notes Jeffrey… Read more »

A World Safe for Autocracy? Illiberal China’s Rise in a Liberal World Order

     

China’s assertion of sharp power is one reason why Canada must develop a comprehensive strategy to strengthen cultural diplomacy as a pillar of foreign policy, according to a new Senate… Read more »

Democracy demotion? How to restore the freedom agenda

     

The United States stands at a precipice, facing a time when freedom and democracy will be tested. It remains, within the world’s vast web of alliances and organizations, the indispensable… Read more »