Category: democratic breakdown

Cultural ‘retro backlash’ driving authoritarian populism

     

Cultural divisions and resentments are driving the rise of authoritarian populism across the Western world, according to a new book. Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism, by Pippa Norris… Read more »

How comparative insights and lessons magnify democratic renewal

     

Ideas, experiences, and lessons from other countries are not panaceas but, if properly researched, disseminated, and discussed, they can magnify democratic reform, say two leading analysts. The resounding success of Steven… Read more »

Polarization a key factor in democracy’s ‘alarming’ decline

     

The latest Freedom in the World report – compiled by more than 100 experts and drawing on data from 209 countries – describes an “ominous” global erosion of democratic values… Read more »

Understanding Central Europe’s illiberal metamorphosis

     

To understand Central Europe ’s illiberal metamorphosis, bear in mind that the region’s political imperative for almost three decades was “Imitate the West!” That process went by different names –… Read more »

‘Neo-autocracy’: turning democracy into a tool of oppression

     

Władysław Frasyniuk (above) championed democracy in the face of Communist rule in Poland in the 80s. Now, he warns the freedom he fought for is starting to slip away. (The… Read more »

How authoritarians are ‘dismantling democracy from the inside’

     

Authoritarian learning facilitates the ‘dismantling of democracy from the inside’, The Washington Post’s Amanda Erickson writes. It used to be that autocrats came to power through coups or by enacting states… Read more »

Autocratic populists leave democracy ‘unfixable’?

     

Advanced democracies enjoy institutional defenses against would-be authoritarian leaders, analysts suggest, and even where they fall victim to illiberal or populist rule, they tend to demonstrate resilience and capacity for… Read more »

Populists have weakened, not destroyed democratic institutions

     

National populists operate within the shell of democratic institutions, and have weakened but not destroyed them, the FT’s John Lloyd writes in a review of Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the… Read more »

How to save constitutional democracy

     

Democracies can collapse or erode beyond repair, but they can also suffer substantial yet “non-fatal” deterioration in the quality of democratic institutions, and then experience a rebound, according to Tom… Read more »

Are we on the brink of a post-democratic era?

     

Former President Obama will “echo his call to reject the rising strain of authoritarian politics and policies” when he accepts an award for ethics in government next week, The Hill… Read more »