Category: Dictatorships

Post-Covid democratic legitimacy demands ‘re-imagining social contracts’?

     

Václav Havel was spot on when he wrote: ‘The natural disadvantage of democracy is that it is extremely tiring to those who mean it honestly, while it allows almost everything… Read more »

‘When the World Wasn’t Looking’: An inflection point for democracy?

     

From anti-science conspiracy theories to state-sponsored disinformation, the United Nations warns that an “infodemic” of half-truths and falsehoods is undermining the effort to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. How is social… Read more »

What China Wants: Ideology at root of ‘new type of cold war’

     

The world’s “free and open societies” should collaborate to stop their capital and technology from aiding China’s human rights violations and military build-up, and instead redirect such assets to initiatives… Read more »

Is the West losing the fight for democracy?

     

Coronavirus-related pressures are having a detrimental effect on democracies around the world, argues Steven Feldstein, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. “Pandemic-fueled… Read more »

Democratic resilience: explaining stability and fragility

     

Democracies are better equipped to cope with crises like the current Covid-19 pandemic and at less risk of institutional breakdown than many commentators believe, new research suggests. Comparisons of the… Read more »

Who is undermining democracy in CEE & Eurasia? Stalinization of Russia’s historical propaganda.

     

Hungary was the first democratic victim of the coronavirus. It may not be the last, Boise State’s Steven Feldstein writes for Foreign Policy. China’s foreign policy has increasingly weakened democratic… Read more »

Great Power Competition: Will pandemic give democracies advantage?

     

Democracy was in retreat, and autocrats were on the march, before the coronavirus appeared, notes analyst Ruchir Sharma. To contain it, leaders of all political styles have assumed previously unthinkable… Read more »

Destined for autocracy? Scenarios for post-Covid Russia

     

A new Russian landscape is emerging that demands patient observation, even if is still unclear what comes next amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, notes Lilia Shevtsova (above, left), the Richard von… Read more »

As coronavirus threatens legitimacy, China targets victims and critics

     

The Chinese authorities are clamping down as grieving relatives, along with activists, press the ruling Communist Party for an accounting of what went wrong in Wuhan, where the coronavirus killed… Read more »

Authoritarian challenges compromising the knowledge economy

     

In light of growing concern about malicious disruption during the global crisis, the United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) is playing a leading role in further developing a common framework… Read more »