Populism and protest: is Poland a harbinger?
The 2015 victory of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party is an example of the rise of contemporary authoritarian populism, say analysts Joanna Fomina and Jacek Kucharczyk. The PiS’s rise… Read more »
Category: Central/Eastern Europe
Is ‘Populist International’ Undermining Western Democracy?
Europe’s populists share ideas and ideology, friends and funders, notes analyst Anne Applebaum. They cross borders to appear at one another’s rallies. They have deep contacts in Russia — they… Read more »
What the West can do to contain Russia’s aggression, disinformation
Even before the December 2011 protests — and his own reelection as president in March 2012 — Vladimir Putin had begun signaling the return of a more authoritarian and aggressive… Read more »
Helping Europe through its crisis of illiberal politics
Twenty years after the U.S. brokered peace in Bosnia, leaders who once pledged to rebuild a European democracy here are shunning the West, The Wall Street Journal reports: In the… Read more »
Ukraine stunned as political elite’s vast wealth made public
An anti-corruption reform requiring senior Ukrainian officials to declare their wealth online has exposed a vast difference between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent, Reuters reports: Some… Read more »
Orban leads surging illiberalism in CEE
Populist and nativist political parties have emerged throughout Europe, yet only in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have these illiberal democratic parties gained power, notes Jacques Rupnik, director of research… Read more »
Hungary: fought for freedom, now content with tyranny?
The crushing of Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising 60 years ago this week stood as a tragic symbol of communist barbarism throughout the Cold War, notes Arch Puddington, head of research for… Read more »
Populism the ‘most menacing challenger’ to democracy
European democracy seems to be in jeopardy, and there is no shortage of culprits, notes Takis S. Pappas, associate professor of comparative politics at the University of Macedonia and coeditor… Read more »
Hungary 1956 – ‘the first color revolution’?
Hungary’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador over reportedly disparaging remarks on Russian state media about Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, AP reports: The ministry said Tuesday it wants to… Read more »
Unraveling of Post-1989 Order – The Specter Haunting Europe
The unraveling of the post–Cold War liberal order is manifested by the West’s declining influence in international politics; the waning attraction of liberal democracy; and the maturing tensions within liberal… Read more »