Category: Central/Eastern Europe

‘Backlash to the backlash’: tide turning against populism?

     

  The newly-elected prime minister of the center-right New Democracy party, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, promises a return to normality for the middle class after 4.5 years with the populist Syriza party… Read more »

Post-protest reforms a ‘huge achievement’ for Georgia’s angry democracy?

     

The leader of Georgia’s ruling party said Monday that the ex-Soviet nation will hold the next parliamentary election based entirely on a proportionate system, fulfilling a key demand of anti-government… Read more »

Russia’s soft power set to divide Council of Europe’s democracies

     

The late Russian president Boris Yeltsin once said his country’s entry into the Council of Europe would help create a “new, greater Europe, free from dividing lines” and “united by common… Read more »

How Hungary’s bright-eyed Fidesz liberals became populist reactionaries

     

To say that Hungary is no longer a democracy is a stark claim and I have thought, read and looked hard before making it, notes Oxford University’s Timothy Garton Ash…. Read more »

Democracy’s development, decay, or death knell?

     

Western populism is impossible to understand as a direct result of domestic problems. Rather, it is a reaction to the global redistribution of power that is still taking shape, argues… Read more »

‘Identity and Democracy’: an ominous sign of populist international

     

In the wake of the recent European Parliament elections, Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini’s MEPs have teamed up with other nationalist parties across the EU to form the biggest… Read more »

Challenging illiberal democracy’s ‘post truth’ world. Is the tide shifting?

     

Illiberal regimes have had a good run, but perhaps the tide is shifting. “Protesters poured into [Hong Kong’s] streets for a second Sunday despite the suspension of a controversial bill to expand… Read more »

Why populists are here to stay

     

National populist parties share a common approach and program, argues Matthew Goodwin,  professor of politics at the University of Kent and senior visiting fellow at Chatham House. They seek to… Read more »

Digital Democracy Agency? Invest in resilience to win new information war

     

Russian online outlets spread disinformation to sway voters in last month’s European Union elections, the bloc said on Friday in a report calling for social media firms to take greater… Read more »