Category: Europe

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 »

‘Springtime for Strongmen’? Explaining the rise of populist authoritarians

     

How are we to understand the resurgence of authoritarianism? What form does it now take? What responsibility do elites bear for its success? These are among the most important questions… Read more »

From Hungary to EU: Orban exporting ‘alternative to liberal democracy’

     

Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, is often accused of promoting a form of ‘illiberal democracy’, where governance is rooted in the popular support of a majority of the country’s citizens,… Read more »

The retreat of global democracy stopped – or just paused?

     

Only 4.5% of the world’s people live in a “full democracy,” but the global democratic regression at least paused in 2018, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence… Read more »

Democracy facing strong headwinds in 2019

     

Democracy is facing strong headwinds in 2019, according to Francesc Badia i Dalmases, Director of DemocraciaAbierta and author of “Order and disorder in the 21st century. Global governance in a… Read more »

Disinformation’s ‘acute and strategic challenge for democratic systems’

     

  With European Union elections closing in, EU leaders are calling for measures to tackle the deliberate spread of disinformation, Associated Press reports. “The spread of deliberate, large-scale, and systematic… 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 »

Georgia a ‘trailblazer for democracy in Caucasus’ or facing ‘uncertain future’?

     

Georgia “is a trailblazer for democracy in the Caucasus region” but it needs support from the West in order to maintain its liberal democratic trajectory, says president-elect Salomé Zourabichvili. “During… Read more »

NGOs call for EU ‘Global Magnitsky’ sanctions on human rights abusers, kleptocrats

     

European foreign ministers should endorse Dutch plans to create targeted EU sanctions for human rights abusers when they meet next week, say 90 human rights and civil society groups, including Fair Trials,… Read more »

EU launches ‘war against disinformation’: resisting Russia’s ‘populace-centric warfare’

     

Russia’s efforts to weaken America’s democratic institutions aren’t limited to elections — but also extend to the U.S. justice system, a group of cybersecurity, national security and legal experts told… Read more »