Emmanuel Véron, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) and Emmanuel Lincot, Institut catholique de Paris (ICP)
China is seeking to present itself as a model in the fight against the coronavirus – even if it means rewriting the history of the crisis and discrediting the governance of liberal democracies.
COVID-19 has brought to the fore the interdependency of business and society. It’s time for amendments to the social contract that underlies societal support for business.
Public criticism of the Chinese government’s handling of coronavirus shows that the Chinese people can overcome both strict censorship and a gaping class divide when they get angry enough.
Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia all punish blasphemy harshly – even with death. Such laws have political as well as religious motives, says a scholar on Islamism: They’re a tool for crushing dissent.
The Roman senate declined from a long-held position of authority under the Roman Republic to become almost wholly reliant on the whims of a given emperor, writes a classics scholar.
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.
The unstable authoritarian pathway that many post-colonial African states followed was facilitated by the way in which European empires undermined democratic elements within African societies.
The fictitious world of Judge Dredd highlights authoritarianism, including laws against outsiders, walls around cities and rules that deny people basic rights. Are the Dredd comics a cautionary tale?
Africa has already felt the effects of Donald Trump’s climate change denialism. Recent events are also raising political issues of keen interest among the continent’s democrats.
A few years ago, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Gulenists were running the show. Now both religious movements face political repression. How did they fall so far, so fast?
Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, threatens to slash funding to sociology and philosophy departments. It was just the opening shot in a new battle against the humanities.
Turkey’s authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was handed a big defeat recently when his party’s candidate lost a crucial election contest. Is this the beginning of Erdogan’s demise?