How to dismantle a democracy
There are four key signs that democracy is under attack, The Economist observes. The protests in Hong Kong and Russia highlight a paradox: In two of the most… Read more »
Category: Democratic institutions
Hong Kong: Why China’s propagandists peddle ‘black-hands’ myth
Since he took power seven years ago, President Xi Jinping has faced a growing din of foreign condemnation over his government’s human rights record, a trade war that has sapped… Read more »
‘Winning Without Fighting’? A strategy to counter autocrats’ political warfare
In the Russian view of information warfare, there is no front line and rear areas, and no non-combatants, Chatham House reports. According to Russia’s Chief of General Staff General Valeriy… Read more »
Georgia’s civil society must seize the opportunity of electoral reform
A new front has been opened in Georgia’s ‘Battle of the political airwaves’ with the announcement that a new channel, Formula, will be broadcast from October. One of the financiers… Read more »
Hong Kong: ‘the China model is cracking’
China’s President Xi Jinping and his comrades have been weathering a political storm, with the growing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong adding to pressure on a regime already locked in… Read more »
How to take authoritarian anti-corruption seriously
Life for Isabel dos Santos appears to be an endless round of international conferences, meetings with celebrities and the run-of-the-mill experiences of the average billionaire philanthropist, although critics claim that she… Read more »
Personalization of power puts democracies in danger
By abruptly revoking the special, constitutionally protected status of Jammu and Kashmir, India has become the latest major democracy to act against a minority community for short-term political popularity. Carefully maintained… Read more »
Poland’s Constitutional Breakdown: What went wrong?
Poland’s anti-constitutional breakdown triggers three major questions: what exactly has happened, why it has happened, and what are the prospects of a return to liberal democracy? These answers are formulated… Read more »
Labor mourns loss of democracy advocates
Labor unions are often a country’s largest, most representative civil society groups, with a membership base that adds democratic credentials and legitimacy that most NGOs can only envy. Public approval… Read more »
How nationalism’s ‘social solidarity’ bolsters democracy
By the end of World War Two, nationalism had been thoroughly discredited. Critics charged that national self-interest had prevented democratic governments from cooperating to end the Great Depression, and that… Read more »