Category: Central/Eastern Europe

Orban’s Hungary offers a ‘glimpse of Europe’s demise’?

     

At a bucolic border post, Western-trained Hungarian counterintelligence agents recently got word that a known operative of Russia’s foreign spy service was driving into Hungary, and asked headquarters for permission… Read more »

Can Poland’s ‘authoritarian turn’ be stopped?

     

Poland’s populist Law and Justice Party appears intent on imposing quasi-authoritarian control over its unruly democracy, analyst Max Boot writes for Commentary.   A new draft Law on Higher Education… Read more »

West’s Iron Curtain ‘would be most effective tool against Putin’s kleptocracy’

     

There is a major difference between former Soviet leaders and senior Russian officials today, including Russian President Vladimir Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov, whose families are abroad, former… Read more »

Partnership in Peril: how to repel populist assault on transatlantic community

     

The threat of authoritarian populism will not recede unless a new generation of political leaders offers a credible agenda for improving people’s lives that is more appealing to the public… Read more »

‘The Road to Unfreedom’ critiqued and explored

     

In ‘The Road to Unfreedom’, Timothy Snyder traces the intellectual roots of modern authoritarianism in Russia and how its influence has spread, not least in the West, notes Eurozine.* In… Read more »

Disinformation: Facebook uncovers new active influence operation

     

Facebook said Tuesday that it had discovered a sophisticated coordinated disinformation operation on its platform involving 32 false pages and profiles engaging in divisive messaging ahead of the U.S. midterm… Read more »

Is Poland Retreating from Democracy?

     

For the past twenty-five years, Andrzej Nowak, a decorated historian of Poland and Russia, has been conducting regular interviews with Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Law and Justice, the conservative political party that… Read more »

‘Cross-domain coercion’: Russia’s Competitive Strategy

     

Since at least 2005, Russia’s leadership has believed itself to be at war with the West. This war is not primarily one of kinetic combat though recent moves suggest that… Read more »

What is the Root Cause of Rising Illiberalism?

     

“Explaining Eastern Europe”is the principal theme of the July issue of the Journal of Democracy, which features a cluster of articles on “Explaining Eastern Europe.” The cluster includes four authors affiliated… Read more »