Democracy must not become pandemic’s ‘silent victim’
As governments adopt extraordinary measures to combat Covid-19, it is vital to ensure democracy does not become the silent victim of the pandemic, some 28 global leaders caution in an… Read more »
Search Results for: Authoritarian learning
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 »
Democracies vulnerable to crisis: Covid exacerbates weaknesses, says BTI
The COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate the very weaknesses that have marked the democratic erosion of the last decade in most of the 137 developing and transformation countries examined in the… Read more »
Learn to live with despots or avoid ‘realist’ retreat?
Former State Policy Planning Director Steve Krasner (someone we have worked with and respect) has written a piece in Foreign Affairs (“Learning to Live with Despots”) that advocates realism as the… Read more »
Essential weekend reading: Why the West is worth saving
No historical rhythm guarantees that democracy is just around the corner in China or Russia or anywhere else, argues Michael Kimmage, Professor of History at The Catholic University of America…. Read more »
Dismantling democracy? Covid-19 used as excuse to quell dissent
Hungary’s parliament endorsed a bill on Monday giving nationalist premier Viktor Orban the sweeping new powers he says he needs to fight the new coronavirus pandemic. Critics at home and… Read more »
COVID-19: A ‘breakthrough moment’ for China’s sharp power in global battle of narratives?
Tomorrow’s front page of The Financial Times (above) confirms that the UK is the latest democracy to adopt unprecedented measures in an effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic…. Read more »
Policy recommendations for strengthening democracy
In the wake of Freedom in the World 2020, the latest survey of political rights and civil liberties in 210 states, which details continuing democratic deterioration, Freedom House offers a… Read more »
Advancing democracy: What works and why?
“What factors and conditions should exist for local pro-democracy, human rights, and labor organizations to effect positive change?” The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL)… Read more »
How democracies should respond to the disinformation dilemma
Often sponsored by authoritarian state actors, disinformation undermines democracies by eroding trust in institutions and media, increasing rifts and tensions in society and weakening our ability to take informed decisions. How… Read more »