There’s not much the world can do to stop authoritarian rulers from persecuting their political opponents, as shown by the standoff over Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who is ill and imprisoned.
Americans are mad – fist-fighting, protesting mad. And that’s just how politicians want voters in election season. But the popular anger stoked by candidates doesn’t just dissipate after the campaign.
Klaus W. Larres, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In 2016 Trump promised to ‘shake the rust off America’s foreign policy.’ Four years later, it’s clearer what that looks like: a US that sits on the sidelines of world crises and collaborations alike.
National emergencies allow for the purest expressions of sovereign power, testing the government’s commitment to human rights. Some leaders are failing the coronavirus test, experts say.
Garret Martin, American University School of International Service
Populists didn’t do well enough in the EU’s recent elections to destroy Europe from within. But with far-right and far-left parties winning new seats, consensus on key issues looks ever less likely.
A massive protest movement exploded across Nicaragua in April 2018, threatening to topple the country’s authoritarian regime. What happened to Central America’s ‘tropical spring?’
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.
Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing congressman and former army captain, is Brazil’s next president, with 56 percent of votes. Critics see a threat to democracy in his scathing attacks on Brazilian society.
Adjunct Researcher at the Center for Mining and Sustainability Studies at the Universidad del Pacífico (Peru) and PhD Candidate in Geography, The University of Melbourne