Incentives are everything. Since its founding in 1993, the European Union (EU) has understood this and become a master of soft power pressure and incentive-based democratic reforms. Indeed, as much as …
Will Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy Learn From His Predecessors?
The Ukrainian people have been through a lot. According to a 2019 Pew Poll, 81% of Ukrainians see a fair judicial system as one of the most important priorities, nevertheless, promises of judicial …
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Minority Parties Win Power, Not Inclusion, in Lithuania
In 2016, the populist Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS) took center stage in Lithuanian politics after unexpectedly winning a plurality in the legislative Seimas (Navickas 2017). The …
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Are Boris Johnson’s Actions Surrounding Brexit a Cause for Worry?
An attack on the freedom of the press and can easily be seen as an attack on democracy. Of the many key features of truly democratic countries, freedom of the press is often viewed as essential. In …
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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Poland’s “Frankenstate”
Source: Rzeczpospolita The Law and Justice Party in Poland is taking both Law and Justice into its own hands. After winning a Parliamentary majority in 2015, the PiS seized control of the Polish …
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2019 EU Elections: Is this the Beginning of the End for Democracy? by Thomas McLees
On May 26th polls for the European Union’s ninth parliamentary elections closed all over Europe. As votes were counted and results were posted, it became more and more apparent that there was a major …
The Use of Fear for Populist Gain: Silvio Berlusconi and His Control Over the Media- by Julia Fischer
Silvio Berlusconi was a successful businessman. He owns the majority of the Italian media, and he was ranked among the world’s richest people in 2006. Along with being a billionaire, he was also a …
How to Defeat Populism: Three Lessons from Slovakia by Jenny W. Xiao
On March 30, 2019 Zuzana Caputova, leader of Progressive Slovakia (PS), won a sweeping victory in the country’s presidential election. In a few months, she will become Slovakia’s first female …
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