Category: Democratic Backsliding

Venezuelan opposition arrests show Maduro moving to consolidate power

     

Two prominent Venezuelan opposition leaders were taken from their homes in raids by intelligence services in the early hours of Tuesday, in what analysts say signals a lurch toward a… Read more »

Naked power grab an existential threat to Venezuelan democracy

     

Venezuela’s socialist government says a national election has given it a popular mandate to dramatically recast the country’s political system even as condemnations of the process have poured in from… Read more »

Could Hungary’s ‘dark path to dictatorship’ set precedent?

     

Hungarian citizens are increasingly disturbed by the country’s authoritarian trajectory, while civil society groups fear Viktor Orban’s illiberal turn could establish a precedent for other European states, reports suggest. Goran… Read more »

Limit democracy to save liberalism?

     

While illiberal democracy is certainly worrying, many of its critics fundamentally misunderstand how democracy’s historical relationship with liberalism and how democracy has traditionally developed, notes Sheri Berman, a professor of… Read more »

South Africa’s Zuma ‘leading ANC onto a path of implosion’

     

Disputed resolutions, deferred decisions and policy uncertainty were the prime bequests of the policy conference of the African National Congress to the troubled organization, notes analyst Susan Booysen: To the question: is… Read more »

Turks marching to fight rise of illiberal populism

     

Tens of thousands of Turks are marching from Ankara to Istanbul in an attempt to fight the rise of illiberal populism and defend democratic values, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu writes… Read more »

Sliding into civil war? Venezuela’s ‘drama threatens to turn from farce to tragedy’

     

  Venezuela’s government hunted on Wednesday for rogue policemen who attacked key installations by helicopter, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro suspected the raid may have been staged to justify… Read more »

E.U.’s democratic values ‘up for grabs’ in Poland

     

Poland’s alleged slide from democracy came under scrutiny from fellow European Union states on Tuesday, with some openly questioning the nationalist government in Warsaw’s commitment to EU values, Reuters reports:… Read more »

Has democracy reached a breaking point?

     

Across the world, experts say democratic states are facing their biggest test in years as they attempt to cope with a loss of trust in public institutions and growing disenchantment… Read more »

Liberal democracy ‘docile in defense of itself’

     

The peace-building aspect of the liberal order has been an extraordinary success, but its institutions have become disconnected from publics in the very countries that created them, according to Jeff D. Colgan and Robert… Read more »