Sharpies, auto emissions and the weaponization of policy. Democracies used to collapse suddenly, with tanks rolling noisily toward the presidential palace. In the 21st century, however, the process is usually subtler. Authoritarianism is on the march across much of the world, but its advance tends to be relatively quiet and …
Direct democracy isn’t more valid than representative democracy. Critics of Boris Johnson’s decision to “prorogue” Parliament by sending its members home for several weeks say it is undemocratic: the Prime Minister is making it much harder for Parliament to influence Brexit, and thus making it more likely that the UK …
Renovations give parliamentarians an opportunity to shore up democracy. Will they take it? Britain’s mps were debating tax reform in April when water from a broken pipe started pouring into the House of Commons. This was unsurprising. The Palace of Westminster, a mostly neo-Gothic building that was completed in 1870, …
In Central Europe, people are protesting or electing as if they were sick of rule by corrupt demagogic authoritarians. Perhaps it’s contagious. While most eyes are fixed on Iran and China, the competition between the liberal international order and the populist demagogues who threaten it has taken an unexpected turn. …
Or has it just paused? DEMOCRACY stopped declining in 2018, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. The index rates 167 countries by 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. It …
In their book, “How Democracies Die,” political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write: “How do elected authoritarians shatter the democratic institutions that are supposed to constrain them? Some do it in one fell swoop. But more often the assault on democracy begins slowly. . . . The erosion of democracy takes …
The internet is undermining the traditional bastions of state power Whoosh. There goes £100 billion. With one mighty slosh in the frothing sea of international markets, Facebook stock lost a fifth of its value in a few hours this week, making for the biggest US stock-market loss ever seen in a …
“I want a free country, where it’s not a crime to be young.” ~SARA MARITZA OPORTO, whose 23-year-old son was arrested during a bloody crackdown on mass protests against Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, who has clung to power for nearly 40 years. Source: Quotation of the Day: In Nicaragua, a …
Armenians are optimistic that the ruling party will keep its promise to elect opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister and usher in needed economic and political reforms. The vote comes after weeks of protests that toppled the ruling elite. For weeks, Armenians attempted the unthinkable — to bring down …
When generals get a taste of political power, they tend to come back for more. The results of Egypt’s presidential election this month were about as surprising as the sunrise. President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who came to power in 2013 in a coup, won reelection with 97 percent of the vote. Of …
On Sunday, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party will likely cruise to another victory in Hungary’s general election, giving Mr. Orban, the reigning champion of “illiberal democracy” — a term he proudly embraces — a fourth term to pursue his assault on democratic institutions, immigrants, the European Union and anything smacking of social change. …
Start by containing President John Magufuli THE white beach of Dar es Salaam may seem enticing. Yet the bodies that have washed up on it, almost in sight of the city’s glistening offices and hotels, are a sign of Tanzania’s sickening lurch to despotism. Opposition politicians are being shot; activists …