Category: Analysis

How China’s authoritarian model made Covid pandemic worse

     

China must be held accountable for the coronavirus outbreak, as thousands of lives could have been saved if it had acted earlier, says a leading human rights advocate. The Chinese… Read more »

Russian, Chinese, Iranian disinformation narratives echoing each other

     

China, Iran and Russia are using the coronavirus crisis to launch a propaganda and disinformation onslaught against the United States, the State Department warns in a new analysis, POLITICO’s Betsy… Read more »

‘Dynamism Despite Disruption’: Will pandemic undercut or rejuvenate civil society

     

In many countries, restrictive laws already had been squeezing civil society before the Covid-19 crisis hit. The pandemic provides a convenient cover for governments to further tilt the balance of power… Read more »

Why Russia’s Power Vertical is failing the COVID-19 Challenge

     

Russia is hardly the only country struggling to respond to the pandemic. But the political consequences of an inadequate response are much greater for a highly centralized and deeply personalized… Read more »

Autocrats present liberal democracies with an ideological challenge

     

The remote northern Russian region of Komi is a coronavirus petri dish for the horrors lying in wait for the world’s largest country. Amid growing evidence that the pathogen had… Read more »

Don’t pave the way for authoritarian spheres of influence

     

Washington still has the power to prevent Beijing and Moscow from dominating their regions, so long as it rejects advice to cut loose its vulnerable frontline allies. A tougher, more… Read more »

China’s propaganda aims to obscure ‘crime against humanity’?

     

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has used the coronavirus pandemic to shore up his political power at home, but the tools the Communist Party has exploited to do this are threatening… Read more »

Hong Kong using Covid-19 crisis as ‘golden opportunity’ to decapitate protest movement

     

Hong Kong authorities arrested fifteen prominent activists, including former lawmakers, in what is thought to be the largest crackdown (HT: CFR) on the city’s pro-democracy movement since mass protests began… Read more »

Is China winning? Covid-19 a ‘unique stress test’ of political resilience

     

Like an asteroid, coronavirus is the textbook example of an exogenous shock. The threat came from beyond. Yet the pathogen offers a unique stress test of each country’s resilience, argues… Read more »

Essential weekend reading: Why the West is worth saving

     

No historical rhythm guarantees that democracy is just around the corner in China or Russia or anywhere else, argues Michael Kimmage, Professor of History at The Catholic University of America…. Read more »