Tag: illiberalism

Post-Covid world ‘already here’? Illiberal plague tests democratic resilience

     

In human history, national emergencies, whether caused by war, invasion, financial crisis, or an epidemic, have often been the occasions for major political reform. It takes a huge external shock… Read more »

What went wrong in Central and Eastern Europe? A case for ‘pessoptimism’

     

There’s has been extensive and ongoing debate about “what went wrong in Central and Eastern Europe” and what explains its various forms of illiberalism and democratic decline. A variety of,… Read more »

How to Make Democracies Resilient

     

  The spread of illiberal and autocratic tendencies challenges Europe’s democracies, the V-Dem Institute observes. While in some European countries democratic institutions are already eroding, illiberal political parties are on… 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 »

Rethinking backsliding: Why flawed liberals leave democracy vulnerable

     

One thing is especially disconcerting about the illiberal turn in Eastern and Central Europe. It has been the early front-runners of democratization – Hungary and Poland – where democratic backsliding… 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 »

Africa’s ‘backsliding’ qualified by democratic resilience

     

Three decades after sub-Saharan Africa joined the “third wave,” democracy’s ability to endure has been established in many countries, but its quality remains a grave concern, notes Peter M. Lewis,… Read more »

CEE illiberalism a corrective to damaging ‘victorious West’ myth?

     

For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to ‘be like the West’ has generated discontent and even a ‘return of the repressed’, as the region feels old nationalist stirrings… Read more »

Poland’s ‘democratic spring’ exposing illiberalism’s fatal flaws?

     

The divisive nature of Central Europe’s quasi-authoritarian governments precludes consensus-building, and has so weakened academic freedom and independent institutions that creative policy responses to economic challenges are being stifled. As… Read more »