The West’s Weimar moment?
The emergence of a virulent new strain of authoritarian populism on both sides of the Atlantic has prompted many observers to draw (largely inappropriate and far-fetched) analogies with the… Read more »
Category: democracy recession
A Strategy for Democratic Renewal
Democracy is being challenged today as never before since the end of Cold War, notes Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy. Freedom House has recorded ten consecutive… Read more »
Egypt’s hollowed-out civil society
Authoritarian regimes are, in general, averse to a strong civil society. Egypt is no exception, notes Gamal Eid (left), an Egyptian lawyer and the director of the Arabic Network for… Read more »
The Crooked Timber of Humanity & the ‘death’ of liberal democracy
In Russia, and now in countries from Hungary to Poland, and in China, forms of authoritarianism are ascendant and liberalism (or even modest liberalization) are in retreat, Roger Cohen… Read more »
Nations in Transit: Europe & Eurasia – grim portrait of decline, small reasons for hope
While economic downturns are threatening the stability of the former Soviet Union’s “entrenched dictatorships,” the migration crisis is fueling populism in Eastern Europe, and reforms in the Balkans are in… Read more »
Egypt ‘significantly escalates’ civil society crackdown
Egypt expanded its crackdown on human rights organizations Tuesday, raiding a center that treats victims of violence and attempting to shut it down. This time, however, the government backed down,… Read more »
Is Democracy in Decline?
For all the commentary on democratic recession, there has been nothing like the kind of “reverse wave” that Samuel P. Huntington’s The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century… Read more »
Democracy in retreat?
Despite the current democratic regression, there are three reasons why democracy advocates should maintain hope for the future, says Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy. The first… Read more »
Democracy in the Arab World: Still a Mirage?
More than five years after the Arab Spring began, the euphoria that accompanied the region’s early uprisings has been replaced by a dogged realism, notes RAND analyst Seth G.Jones. From the indignant graffiti… Read more »
Is global democracy in trouble?
Or does it just feel like it? PRI asks. “We’re not just talking about a recession of democracies, in terms of countries that are democracies. We’re talking about a recession… Read more »