What happened to the West?
Conceptions of the West guided and led American foreign policy for decades during the 20th century, the International Relations Council reports. Historian Michael Kimmage argues in his new book, The… Read more »
Ideals vs institutions: Why democracy is a disappointment – and a hope
The current U.S. protests against racial inequality would have come as no surprise to the celebrated political scientist Samuel P. Huntington. In his classic text, American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony,… Read more »
How the coronavirus tests democracy
While the coronavirus pandemic is many stresses that afflict democracy in Europe, it is also propelling democratic efforts in a number of areas, notes Richard Youngs, a senior fellow in the… Read more »
COVID threatens to derail Sudan’s troubled transition
Financing the Revival of Sudan’s Troubled Transition https://t.co/eMUTAwlXwG via @crisisgroup — Democracy Digest (@demdigest) June 23, 2020 Sudan’s transition could easily veer off course without a reinvigoration of the… Read more »
CEE’s democratic vulnerabilities revealed
Corruption, populism, nationalism and disinformation have eroded faith in liberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a new report – which says many people would trade in some… Read more »
The ongoing democratic experiment: Reason for hope
Recent trends – not last democratic backsliding and autocratic resurgence – are enough to make one think that David Stasavage’s new book should have been about the rise and subsequent… Read more »
How Covid-19 may ’embed’ the new authoritarianism
The Covid-19 pandemic has been talked of as a historical rupture, igniting system change. Yet, the nature of the new world being born is still far from certain, and this… Read more »
Serbia ‘becoming a one-party system’?
Serbia’s president declared a landslide victory Sunday for his right-wing party in a parliamentary vote held amid concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus and a boycott of much… Read more »
Don’t underestimate resilience of the smart new despotisms
The new despotism defies the standard distinction between democracy and authoritarianism, argues John Keane (above), Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and WZB (Berlin). The “whip-smart resilience” of… Read more »
Father of Democracy fears ‘the end of Hong Kong as we know it’
The man nicknamed Hong Kong’s “Father of Democracy” said Friday that Beijing is trying to take control of the semi-autonomous city with an impending national security law, but added that… Read more »