Will Ethiopia’s liberalization lead to democratization?
Rising ethnic tensions threaten to undermine the prospects of democratization in Ethiopia, say Freedom House analysts Jon Temin and Yoseph Badwaza. Managing expectations, maintaining stability, and...
View ArticleWhen protest is not enough: Movements need alternative vision to the status quo
Recent political protests, from Hong Kong to Moscow, Tbilisi to Belgrade, have been the biggest since 1989, the great year of pro-democracy revolutions. But something fundamental has changed in the......
View ArticleRethinking backsliding: Why flawed liberals leave democracy vulnerable
One thing is especially disconcerting about the illiberal turn in Eastern and Central Europe. It has been the early front-runners of democratization – Hungary and Poland – where democratic...
View ArticleGlobal protest wave rattles governments, but can it advance democracy?
Whether the unprecedented wave of protests leads to sustainable democratic transitions depends in large part on the strategic sophistication of illiberal regimes and democratic actors, including the...
View ArticleWhat went wrong in Central and Eastern Europe? A case for ‘pessoptimism’
There’s has been extensive and ongoing debate about “what went wrong in Central and Eastern Europe” and what explains its various forms of illiberalism and democratic decline. A variety of,... Read...
View ArticleWhy democracies cannot be ‘satisfaction machines’
Seeing democratization after the Cold War as a troubled process of political imitation helps us understand three critical ways in which an unjustifiable over-idealization of capitalism and democracy...
View ArticleAutocratization surges, resistance grows
As #autocratization accelerates, democratic resistance against this trend is growing, according to new V-Dem Institute data. For the first time since 2001, autocracies became a majority, with 92...
View ArticleKremlin joins China’s sharp power bandwagon
The coronavirus pandemic confirms that China’s authoritarian state capitalism with its hegemonic ambitions is by far the most difficult strategic challenge the West has ever faced, according to one...
View ArticleFrom democratic regression to ‘third reverse wave’
The global democratic recession that began as a slow and quite uneven ebbing of progress fifteen years ago has now morphed into a substantial, comprehensive regression of freedom and democracy... Read...
View ArticleInternational support can fuel democratic resurgence
International democracy support and protection can play a significant role in reversing the third wave of autocratization, according to new research. A record of 42 countries are autocratizing, hosting...
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