The disinformation age: a revolution in propaganda?
Forty years have passed since my father was pursued by the KGB for exercising a citizen’s simple right to read, to listen to what they chose and to say what… Read more »
Category: Central/Eastern Europe
Hungary’s illiberal victimhood narrative stifling freedom, limiting dissent
A change in control at Budapest’s 1956 Institute, prompted by Hungary’s illiberal premier Viktor Orban, is part of a wider trend of stifling academic freedom and limiting public dissent, creating… Read more »
Ukraine: potential for change – or will vested interests divert reform?
Now that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new party, Servant of the People, has won a majority in Ukraine’s parliament, the potential for real change exists. But it comes with the risk… Read more »
Renewal or revanche? Ukraine election starts a ‘test for benevolent populism’
Preliminary results in Ukraine’s parliamentary election suggest President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party is on course to win big as Ukrainians endorse his reform agenda. The Central Election Commission… Read more »
Dictators are ascendant. But democracy is still in demand.
Recent protests – from Hong Kong and Sudan to Central and Eastern Europe – demonstrate that large numbers of people around the world still want democracy enough to take to… Read more »
Will the EU be a player or a playground? Solidarity of democratic West ‘matters as much as ever’
Today, the cohesion of the West matters as much as ever in the face of a newly assertive Russia and China, argues David Reynolds, professor of international history at the… Read more »
Yes, civil society can help prevent democratic breakdowns
A quiet revolution is sweeping Eastern Europe. From the Czech Republic to Albania and from Slovakia to Romania, people are taking to the streets to demand greater transparency from their… Read more »
How the oldest hatred is corrupting democracy
On July 18, 1994, unknown attackers bombed the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (whose Spanish acronym is AMIA), a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. This still-unresolved terrorist attack killed 87… Read more »
Ukraine’s ‘unsung heroes’: NGOs leading democratic renewal
Ukraine’s citizens have high hopes for the recently-elected president, are less pessimistic over the country’s trajectory and support the Donbas region remaining part of Ukraine, according to a nationwide poll from… Read more »
Every crisis is an opportunity? A chance to reform Moldova’s captured state
After Moldova’s constitutional crisis was unexpectedly resolved, there is an opportunity to introduce genuine democratic reforms in a post-Soviet state whose institutions have been held captive by oligarch rule, according… Read more »