Category: Europe

Hungary vote an ‘optical illusion’ and ‘peacock dance’

     

  Hungarian lawmakers have voted in favour of repealing extraordinary powers granted to Prime Minister Viktor Orban to fight the coronavirus, the BBC reports: Members of parliament unanimously requested the… Read more »

Europe’s resourceful civil society a powerful tool for fighting disinformation

     

Lithuania’s elves (above) are just one branch of a surprisingly complex and creative network across Europe that is combating disinformation from local sources, Russia, and elsewhere, says Thomas Kent, a… Read more »

Pandemic represents ‘high-water mark’ for brittle authoritarian model’s appeal?

     

It is quite possible that the coronavirus pandemic will represent the high-water mark for the appeal of the authoritarian model and of its two standard-bearers, China and Russia, according to… Read more »

Illiberal Hungary ‘mounting an ambitious ideological campaign’?

     

Budapest’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic has been to suspend parliament and give Prime Minister Viktor Orbán open-ended powers to rule by decree. Will the latest move by the ruling… Read more »

The ‘Vegas rule’ and Selective Wilsonianism: When the West does (and doesn’t) advance democracy

     

The “Vegas rule” — what happens in a single nation stays there — “does not apply in today’s global world,” according to Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass. Greenhouse… Read more »

‘Democracy on Pandemic Pause’: Why populists understand Eastern Europe

     

Amid the turmoil and fear caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Central and Eastern European populists are wasting no time sowing division and attempting to cement their positions. Hungarian Prime Minister… Read more »