Category: Democratization

Democracies’ immune system against extremism is failing

     

Moral and cultural organisations must strive harder to rid the body politic of populist infection, in central Europe and elsewhere, says Tomáš Halík, a professor of sociology at Charles University in… Read more »

Autocracy with Chinese characteristics?

     

Most Western observers have long believed that democracy and capitalism go hand in hand, that economic liberalization both requires and propels political liberalization, notes Yuen Yuen Ang, Associate Professor of… Read more »

Unlikely candidate bucking global authoritarian drift

     

Even some of Uzbekistan’s harshest critics insist that the country’s new leader, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, is serious about bucking a drift toward authoritarian rule around the world — a trend… Read more »

Has U.S. lost its ‘power of inspiration’ as a model of democracy?

     

The violent collapse of the Arab Spring has damaged the cause of liberal politics not just in the Middle East, but around the world. Strongman leaders are back in fashion… Read more »

Who will pick up the democracy promotion mantle?

     

It is not surprising that liberty has enemies. The tragedy now is that the defense of liberty is absent where it should be vibrant, argues Stein Ringen, a visiting professor… Read more »

Enlightenment Now: Is democracy winning or losing the global contest?

     

  Liberal democracy “is where the world was, not where it is going,” said US senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. By the end of the year, we should be able to… Read more »

Exaggerating authoritarian threat ‘makes it harder to safeguard liberal democracy’

     

  Only a third of Americans now trust their government “to do what is right”—a decline of 14 percentage points from last year, according to a new report by the communications marketing… Read more »

Beijing’s sharp power proves China won’t become ‘more like us’

     

The downfall of a prominent Australian lawmaker is fueling a growing sense of unease about Chinese influence in the country’s domestic affairs, and raising tensions with its most important trading… Read more »