Category: Governance

‘Blunting China’s Sharp Power’: Long arm of Beijing threatens free speech

     

The true nature of China’s sharp power was on display this week after Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, posted a somewhat anodyne message of solidarity… Read more »

Poland’s populist turn: A looming Hungarian scenario

     

Poland’s election on Oct. 13 is the biggest test of the Law & Justice Party’s durability, say Bloomberg analysts Wojciech Moskwa and Rodney Jefferson. It has increased its popularity by… Read more »

1989: A reminder of democracy’s fragility and resilience

     

Three decades ago this fall, a political earthquake rocked the barrier that had divided Europe and the city of Berlin for nearly five decades. The so-called Autumn of Nations saw… Read more »

Reinvent democracy as populists ‘weaponize the will of the people’

     

The political arguments made by some contemporary politicians use the language of democracy, but the underlying logic has more in common with populist authoritarianism – a strategy that could be… Read more »

A ‘confrontation of monumental proportions is coming’ in Hong Kong

     

The Sharp Sword stealth drones and the intercontinental ballistic missiles and the truck-borne monuments to the Communist struggle are ready. Flowers have been planted and red lanterns hung along all… Read more »

Citizen K: Putin’s nightmare? The ballot box

     

By any measure, the decline of Putinism is indisputable. It was best captured by a poll conducted in May by the government-run Public Opinion Center, which showed that public trust… Read more »

150 years of data proves autocrats are bad for the economy

     

Deference to autocratic rulers is not only a bad idea for democracy: It’s terrible for the economy, too, according to a new analysis. The authors of the study published in… Read more »

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 »

‘Never-ending state war against civil society’ meets the new face of Russia’s protests

     

Russian authorities have threatened protesters in Moscow with lengthy jail sentences in an attempt to dampen an unexpected surge in protest mood before a planned opposition rally, The Guardian reports…. Read more »