Two autocrats: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, left, and Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, right, in Budapest, Hungary, Nov. 7, 2019.
AP/Presidential Press Service
Today’s autocrats rarely use brute force to wrest control. A human rights and international law scholar details the modern authoritarian’s latest methods to grab and hold power.
Mass mobilization of citizens and organizations around Brussels-North railway station.
FRANÇOIS DVORAK/fdvphotoreporter.wixsite.com/monsite
The 2015 reception crisis had a profound impact on civil society in Europe. A significant set of attitudes and practices emerged that give a sense of what political participation means today.
Supporters of the anti-Islam party Pegida attend a rally in Copenhagen on January 19, 2015.
Juliane Lydolph/AFP
The perception of an immigrant threat in Europe is often thought to be driven by rising numbers of asylum seekers, but research indicates that political and media discourses are often the driving factor.
Populism and nationalism are two concepts that go together today. Isolationist proposals, Euroscepticism and a definition of nation against the “enemy” are three of its main ingredients.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White House on May 13, 2019. Strongmen like Orbán are increasingly gaining ground as the death knell sounds for liberal democracy.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
When an elected leader turns autocratic, the economy tends to suffer. That’s because, in a functioning democracy, economic policy is made jointly, with lawmakers playing a key role.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses supporters after the parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, April 8, 2018.
RREUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has transformed from a liberal into an authoritarian leader who uses the tools of democracy to attack civil society. Hungarians are protesting in the streets.
I’ll get out the sofa bed, Nikola, don’t you worry.
EPA
With its attempt to purge the country’s courts of 40 percent of its judges, Poland’s right-wing ruling party passed another milestone on the path towards establishment of a one-party state.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Cabinet meeting in Moscow’s Kremlin.
AP/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik
Brian Grodsky, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Vladimir Putin’s recent re-election was bad news for democracy in Russia. And it’s a major loss in the struggle for liberalism, as anti-democratic leaders are assuming power across the globe.
When considering this question, we need to distinguish between the pomposities of monarchies and the purpose they serve as checks on untrammelled authoritarianism.