The Chavismo Files
Following the recent shift in the Venezuelan National Assembly it is sensible to go back and examine the legacy Hugo Chavez and his acolytes that steered Venezuela to the edge… Read more »
Category: Democratic Backsliding
Russia and China seek new ‘client states’?
U.S. President Barack Obama raised eyebrows around the world with a difficult-to-interpret reference to Ukraine in his final annual State of the Union address that lumped the post-Soviet state and… Read more »
Is Poland a failing democracy?
Poland’s new right-wing government faces international demands to roll back radical changes to the country’s institutions, but the odds that it will suffer any serious punishment from Brussels are close to zero, analyst Jan Cienski… Read more »
Turkey: Erdogan’s ‘dangerous dance with radicalism’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s flirtation with radical Islam in Syria and march from liberal democratic reformer to illiberal populist authoritarian have confused Americans trying to deal with Turkey, which… Read more »
Fears of illiberal Central Europe axis ‘overblown’?
Poland’s crackdown on the judiciary and public media, emulating Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s accumulation of power, has raised fears in the European Union of a new illiberal axis based… Read more »
South Africa faces toughest test since transition
South Africa faces what some believe is its toughest economic period since it made the transition to democracy in 1994, The Financial Times reports: Some of mineral-rich South Africa’s woes… Read more »
Pillars of Poland’s democracy under threat
Poland, the pivotal power in post-communist central Europe, is in danger of being reduced by its recently elected ruling party to an illiberal democracy, argues Timothy Garton Ash. Basic pillars… Read more »
Anxious Dictators, Wavering Democracies
The findings of Freedom in the World 2016, Freedom House’s annual assessment of political rights and civil liberties, will be released on Wednesday, January 27, at 9:00-10:30 a.m. This year’s report… Read more »
Why has ‘pivot’ to Asia had underwhelming results?
Throughout much of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Southeast Asia was one of the brightest spots for democracy globally. Since the late 2000s, however, the region’s democratization has stalled;… Read more »
‘Illiberal democracy’? The Orban-ization of Poland
The European Commission said on Monday it would examine the impact of laws pushed through by Poland’s new right-wing government amid growing concerns for democracy and the rule of law… Read more »