Why the West is losing the fight for democracy
The “politics of imitation” is a phrase that recurs innumerable times in The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy by Ivan Krastev (above) and Stephen Holmes,… Read more »
Category: Democratic institutions
Russia’s ‘Internyet’: Beginning of the end of the open era?
The United States “needs to be prepared for retaliation in the hard cyber space and soft information space” after killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, says a top expert at the… Read more »
Taiwan: The ‘most consequential election of 2020’?
The most consequential election of 2020 might not come at the end of the year, when US President Donald Trump seeks a second term in the White House, but much… Read more »
Ukraine poised for a strong 2020: Is Zelensky succeeding?
Despite the fact that he took office as an utter political neophyte in one of Europe’s most dysfunctional nations, Volodymyr Zelensky’s government so far has been an extraordinary — and,… Read more »
China’s ‘sprint for soft power’ provokes backlash
Xi Jinping promotes the view that China’s system presents an alternative to free-market democracy. And yet Beijing’s sprint for soft power* has been less successful than one might assume, The New… Read more »
Democracy embattled: How bad is the crisis?
Around the world, democracies are getting weaker and elected politicians are becoming more unpopular. Are they serving the people—or themselves? The Economist asks (see below). The Crisis of Democracy and… Read more »
How to weaponize truth against digital authoritarianism
Is the DC-based Foreign Policy Research Institute the latest victim of an online disinformation program? Aaron Stein, the Director of the Middle East Program and a 2019 Templeton Fellow at… Read more »
Setback for autocrats use of sharp power to subvert the West
Zdenek Hrib had been in office for only a couple of months when he first locked horns with Beijing. The youthful mayor of Prague was welcoming diplomats to a reception… Read more »
China’s annus horribilis: Authoritarian turn ‘challenges the world’
More than a dozen Chinese lawyers and activists are reportedly missing or were detained by authorities in the final days of 2019 as part of the Chinese government’s year-end crackdown… Read more »
Roads to Modernity: Democratizing moral revolution
While political scientists tend to focus on institutional reforms as a route to democratic renewal, there are also more old-fashioned ways to boost civic fabric, The FT’s Gillian Tett argues…. Read more »