Events in both Moscow and Hong Kong show how single-grievance protests can evolve into wider movements, argues FT analyst Gideon Rachman: Between them, Russia and China represent the major geopolitical… Read more »
Twenty years ago, Vladimir Putin appeared on the political Olympus in the guise of an effective bureaucrat with a security services background; a market-oriented statesman and pragmatist without ideological pretenses,… Read more »
Democracy and liberal values have indeed come under attack in central and eastern Europe. The Economist Intelligence Unit finds that since 2006 democracy has deteriorated more there than in any other… Read more »
The United States has developed a reputation as the country with the toughest anti-money laundering regime and the most aggressive policies to combat illicit finance in the world, argues Josh… Read more »
Recent political protests, from Hong Kong to Moscow, Tbilisi to Belgrade, have been the biggest since 1989, the great year of pro-democracy revolutions. But something fundamental has changed in the… Read more »
Internet censorship isn’t new. For years, authoritarian regimes like North Korea and Russia have aggressively controlled internet access. In the most infamous case, China’s Great Firewall has blocked its users… Read more »
The resurgence of threats to liberal democracy — external and internal — does not refute the principal thesis of Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History?” says a prominent analyst…. Read more »
Democracy may be facing a crisis, but…. Now is a time “for resolve, not panic,” says Stanford University’s Larry Diamond. In his latest book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage,… Read more »
Online foreign influence efforts are a threat that is here to stay. At least 24 countries worldwide have been targeted, with Russia being by far the most active aggressor; but… Read more »
Police detained nearly 1,400 activists (HT: AP/CFR) who participated in a Saturday protest against a ban on some opposition candidates from running for Moscow’s city council, according to a monitoring… Read more »