‘Neo-autocracy’: turning democracy into a tool of oppression
Władysław Frasyniuk (above) championed democracy in the face of Communist rule in Poland in the 80s. Now, he warns the freedom he fought for is starting to slip away. (The… Read more »
Category: illiberalism
A ‘dark day for freedom’: Hungary’s democracy ‘dying a slow death’
European Union leaders warned that it was a red line, and dared Hungary not to cross it. The U.S. ambassador pegged the issue as his top priority. In the streets of… 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 »
Persuasive populism enters the mainstream
Populist parties have more than tripled their support in Europe in the last 20 years, securing enough votes to put their leaders into government posts in 11 countries and challenging… Read more »
Developing ‘immunity’ to populism?
Portuguese “immunity” to populism has been strong, compared to the trends in other European Union member states, Isabel Marques da Silva writes for Euronews: But mainstream political parties should be vigilant… 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 »
What Comes Next? Resilience lessons for liberal democracy’s renewal
Are there lessons for renewal from democracies that have faced executive degradation of pre-weakened democratic institutions, particularly countries with polarized populations? In What Comes Next? Lessons for the Recovery of Liberal Democracy, a report… Read more »
How to counter democracy’s vulnerability to populist demagogues
Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential victory in Brazil is part of a growing trend of authoritarian leaders being democratically elected across the world, notes Latin America expert Pablo Galarce. “[What] has happened… 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 »
Saving liberal democracy from the extremes?
Larry Diamond of Stanford University has argued that liberal democracy has four necessary and sufficient elements: free and fair elections; active participation of people, as citizens; protection of the… Read more »