Category: illiberal movements

Illiberal democracy’s ‘existential threat’ to values and institutions

     

There is no democracy without liberty, and “illiberal democracy” poses an existential threat to European values and institutions, according to a new analysis. Popular discontent is fueled by a pervasive… Read more »

The New Normal? From non-state actors to ‘terrorist governors’

     

The Venezuelan regime’s mobilization of violent colectivo gangs against opposition protesters is only the latest instance of authoritarian regimes orchestrating illiberal non-state actors to counter democratic forces. Some non-state actors… Read more »

Yes, the world is getting more populist: what liberal democrats can learn

     

Your perception is accurate….. The world is becoming more populist, according to a new research project by the Guardian and Team Populism. Professor Kirk Hawkins, from Brigham Young University in… Read more »

Open society and democratic renewal – mission impossible?

     

The three pillars of freedom, protection and progress form the basis of democratic renewal, according to French President Emmanuel Macron. He proposes the establishment of a European Agency for the Protection of… Read more »

Illiberal toolkit entails ‘a simulacrum of democracy’

     

Conventional wisdom has long held that democratic consolidation is a one-way street and that democratic states, once reaching a certain level of GDP per capita, are immune to democratic breakdown…. Read more »

Poland’s ‘democratic spring’ exposing illiberalism’s fatal flaws?

     

The divisive nature of Central Europe’s quasi-authoritarian governments precludes consensus-building, and has so weakened academic freedom and independent institutions that creative policy responses to economic challenges are being stifled. As… Read more »

‘Striking fragility’ in willingness to defend core democratic values?

     

The illiberal attitudes underpinning the populist upsurge in Europe are not unique to that continent, analysts suggest. There is a striking fragility in Americans’ willingness to defend core democratic values,… Read more »

Populists have weakened, not destroyed democratic institutions

     

National populists operate within the shell of democratic institutions, and have weakened but not destroyed them, the FT’s John Lloyd writes in a review of Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the… Read more »

Conservative civil society pushing back against Western liberal norms

     

The rapid rise of Brazil’s new far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro may have surprised some observers but it did not come out of thin air. His success follows years of support… Read more »

Why illiberalism is on the rise

     

The reasons for the failure of democracy to take hold in Russia and for its current backsliding in Central Europe are complex, but one important and often neglected factor is… Read more »