Category: Central/Eastern Europe

EU-US must win hearts and minds in Western Balkans

     

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Turkey’s approach to democracy and the rule of law are “deeply problematic” to the country’s future cooperation with the European Union. “These deep… Read more »

Democratic modernity ‘not enough’ for CEE

     

The illiberal, populist drift in Central and Eastern Europe is a consequence of disillusion with the European Union as well as historical legacies, says a prominent analyst. “These countries had… Read more »

The third counter-wave to democracy and liberalism. What’s next?

     

If history shows that successive waves of democracy are followed by anti-democratic reaction, the current surge of authoritarian, illiberal or populist politics should suggest that we’re eventually due a democratic… Read more »

‘Constrainment’: A new Western strategy to counter Putin’s Russia?

     

A growing majority of French voters see Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front as a threat to democracy, but a third approve of its ideas, a poll showed on Tuesday, Reuters… Read more »

Hungarian law targets foreign-backed NGOs

     

The Hungarian government is moving to limit the influence of nongovernmental organizations that promote democracy and the rule of law, Lili Bayer writes for POLITICO: This week, parliament is expected… Read more »

‘Don’t do propaganda’ to counter information warfare

     

Czech President Milos Zeman is likely to announce a re-election bid this week after a first term marked by sniping at journalists, warnings on Muslim immigration and a growing friendship… Read more »

How central Europe’s high hopes gave way to creeping authoritarianism

     

The central European states were the vanguards of communism’s collapse in the late 1980s, prompting a sense of inevitability about democracy’s benign coming, reinforced by the diverse figures who stepped… Read more »

Electoral espionage is ‘political warfare’

     

Russia “is up to all sorts of no good,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said today, two days after announcing a plan to visit Moscow. “They are, I’m afraid, engaged… Read more »

Ukraine democratic transition ‘being driven from bottom-up’

     

Ukraine is set to launch its case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, seeking an order to halt Moscow’s support for pro-Russia separatists in… Read more »

Eastern Europe’s populists emboldened in limiting ‘foreign’ NGOs

     

Populist leaders across Central and Eastern Europe are mounting simultaneous crackdowns on nongovernmental organizations that promote open government, aid refugees and often serve as checks on authoritarian governments, The New… Read more »