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 »
Tag: 1989
Post-1989 structures need ‘remodeling, even democracy,’ says Walesa
Did Central Europe’s democratic forces defeat one form of authoritarianism, but fail to anticipate other threats to freedom? The post-Cold War disruption in job markets, economic inequities, and disputes over… 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 »
1989: ‘Ideological lie’ exposed in democracy’s paradoxical moment
No empire in history has disintegrated as quickly or as bloodlessly as the Soviet one, in the remarkable year that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989…. Read more »
Liberal democracy’s 1989 promise ‘a squandered opportunity’
Two great earthquakes shaped the present global order. The first, in 1989, seemed to promise an irresistible march towards liberal democracy and open markets. The opportunity was squandered by those… Read more »
Democracy under threat in post-Wall Europe: Spirit of 1989 fighting back
The west’s mistake after 1989 was not that we celebrated what happened in central Europe – and subsequently in the Baltic republics and the former Soviet Union – as a… Read more »
Fulfilling the promise of 1989: Time for a second liberation of ‘profound renewal’
On the tenth anniversary of 1989, at the brink of the millennium, we could celebrate both the original triumph of the velvet revolutions and great subsequent progress. By the twentieth… Read more »
Tides of illiberalism ‘beginning to ebb’ in eastern Europe: Popular mobilization defends rule of law
The tides of illiberalism in central and eastern Europe are in partial retreat in the face of popular mobilization in defense of the rule of law that deserves western support…. Read more »