Co-Authored by Aiselyn Anaya-Hall and John Kaye Since long before the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world, and particularly the independent states of the …
When Did Velvet Become Steel? Armenian Authoritarianism Is Now Far More Subtle but No Less Dangerous
In 2018, many in the West predicted that the resignation of Armenia’s pro-Moscow autocrat Serzh Sargsyan and election of self-proclaimed reformist Nikol Pashinyan would finally lead to democratic …
Almost Three Decades under ‘Lukashenkism’ Rule and the Consequences for Belarus
‘‘An authoritarian style of rule is a characteristic of me, and I have always admitted it’’. This brave but problematic statement was made 19 years ago by the Belarusian President Alexandar …
The Global Echo of Viktor Orbán’s Populist Cries
On January 3, former U.S. president Donald Trump offered, via his Save America political action committee, an endorsement of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán ahead of the 2022 parliamentary …
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The Electoral Rule-Bending Enabling Viktor Orbán’s Quest for a United Hungary
A few weeks ago, I received the letter pictured above from Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in my mailbox. “Dear citizen! I write to you today because Hungary has a parliamentary election next …
North Macedonia: How Peaceful Protest and Collaboration Created New Hope for Democracy
Throughout the late 20th and 21st centuries, a worrying trend has emerged in global politics, referred to as democratic erosion. Even large liberal democracies like the United States have not been …
Virtual and Conventional Civil Society in Belarus
Protestors took to the streets to oppose the fraudulent election of “Europe’s Last Dictator” Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections. Their defiance of the Lukashenko regime …
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Ethnic Nationalism and Democratic Erosion in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In 1995, the Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War, establishing modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state explicitly structured by ethnic group. 25 years later, a strained peace persists, but …
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