“My defense of democracy,” writes Stein Ringen, author of How Democracies Live, “grows out of a conviction that if we and our children cannot live under reasonably well-functioning democratic rule,… Read more »
It’s the culture, stupid. The successes of Hong Kong, Taiwan and the rest of the Chinese diaspora have always been an embarrassment for Beijing, says Arthur Tam, a former editor… Read more »
In his 2016 book The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century, Norwegian political scientist Stein Ringen describes contemporary China as a “controlocracy,” arguing that its system of government has… Read more »
It is not surprising that liberty has enemies. The tragedy now is that the defense of liberty is absent where it should be vibrant, argues Stein Ringen, a visiting professor… Read more »
The turmoil of democracy in the West represent a shift in the balance of soft power in the world. Europe and America, in confusion and uncertainty, today look unimpressive. It… Read more »
Authorities in China’s capital have cut off the utilities and destroyed the central heating system of a prominent non-government organization (NGO) set up to help migrant workers, as a new… Read more »