How populism went mainstream
There is a specter haunting not just Europe, but the whole globe, quaking the boots of established political parties, legacy media outlets, and transnational institutions of government and civil society…. Read more »
Search Results for: 1989
Democratic ideas resilient despite leadership void
A number of recent reports paint a grim picture for the future of global democracy. According to watchdog Freedom House, 2018 marked the 13th consecutive year of decline in global… Read more »
Velvet Revolution dissidents warn of new threats to Czech freedom
Protests broke out in Prague Saturday on the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution after courts confirmed that Prime Minister Andrej Babis collaborated with the StB, the Communist era secret… Read more »
Can new social compact resolve tension between democratic recession and resilience?
The collapse of communism in Europe 30 years ago ended a broader social-democratic compact. Does the failure to refashion that compact explain varying degrees of democratic recession and resilience? NATO… Read more »
‘Underestimating democracy’ invites demagoguery, says Walesa
Authoritarians are resurgent because of the failure to create a new global system of democratic values, said former Solidarnosc leader and Polish president Lech Walesa. “Polish democracy in practical terms… Read more »
Upholding democratic values needs strong norms & operational principles
The cluster of organizations around the National Endowment for Democracy has evolved into “a huge apparatus” with its strong norms and operational principles, one expert observes, at a time when… Read more »
Baltic Road to Freedom: Rhetoric vs. realpolitik
As Soviet communism following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the experience of Baltic “freedom fighters” like Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania and Lennart Meri of Estonia demonstrated the “almost unbridgeable… Read more »
Europe’s East and West again divided – by values, not walls
Thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell, ending the Cold War in Europe, new political divisions are rising between East and West. Despite the economic success of German reunification and… Read more »
A new ‘Totalitarian Temptation’? Authoritarians rely on ideas too
Sudan’s transition promises to be anything but easy. Economic problems that sparked initial protests in 2018 still await complex solutions, and the state bureaucracy remains weak. How will the military… Read more »
Reversing CEE democratic backsliding a Sisyphean task
Countries in Central and Eastern Europe that made significant gains in building their new democracies following the Cold War are now experiencing a crisis of illiberalism that is weakening the… Read more »