Category: Democratic institutions

Has Covid consolidated Xi’s rule? China’s three strategic options

     

There is a growing body of evidence, assembled and interpreted by talented China experts, that the Chinese government is indeed aiming for global power and perhaps global primacy over the… Read more »

Hong Kong democrats ‘left reeling’ by China’s power grab

     

Pro-democracy activists have called for mass protests against what they see as erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy entailed in a proposed national security law to ban “treason, secession, sedition and… Read more »

Illiberal Hungary ‘mounting an ambitious ideological campaign’?

     

Budapest’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic has been to suspend parliament and give Prime Minister Viktor Orbán open-ended powers to rule by decree. Will the latest move by the ruling… Read more »

Why did post-Cold War West ‘lose its political balance’?

     

The global condition of democracy notably weakened over the past month, according to the Atlantic Council’s State of the Order, which examines the most important events impacting the democratic world… Read more »

Postponing Putin’s Waterloo: How is he hanging on?

     

The key to any possible change in leadership in Russia is in the hands of the ruling elite, as it has been throughout Russia’s long history, notes Dr. Vitali Shkliarov,… Read more »

Preserving liberty in the time of corona: Democratic governance the best antidote

     

The Indian economist Amartya Sen insisted on democracy as a universal value (in a Journal of Democracy reader, left). He also observed that democratic governance is the best antidote to the… Read more »

Why democracies are better at managing crises

     

Among the countries whose performance during the Covid-19 crisis has been rated most highly, the overwhelming majority are democracies. What these top-ranked democracies have in common is that their leaders… Read more »

Out of the frying pan into the fire: Is COVID a MENA ‘conflict multiplier’?

     

Anti-government protests were a growing feature of life in the Middle East and North Africa before the arrival of Covid-19. The pandemic brought an abrupt halt to months of civil… Read more »

Persuade or Perish: ‘Pandemic Propaganda and the Global Democracy Crisis’

     

Whether stated explicitly or implied, the theme that binds much of the pandemic malign influence currently targeting western nations is that democracy, both as a system of government and a set… Read more »

‘Taking the Pulse of Democracy’: Mexico and the Americas 2018/19

     

Why did Argentina, Brazil and Mexico react so differently to COVID-19? Responses to this question are usually limited to whether their presidents – Alberto Fernández, Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel… Read more »