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Articles on Illiberalism

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President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

I watched Hungary’s democracy dissolve into authoritarianism as a member of parliament − and I see troubling parallels in Trumpism and its appeal to workers

One of Donald Trump’s favorite politicians is the Hungarian authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. Would a country led again by Trump embrace similar antidemocratic politics?
Opposition deputies protest as the first stage of controversial judicial reform is approved by the Knesset Law Committee on Feb. 13, 2023. Photo by Israeli Parliament (Knesset) / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Israel enters a dangerous period – public protests swell over Netanyahu’s plan to limit the power of the Israeli Supreme Court

Huge pro-democracy demonstrations in Israel have taken place for almost two months in protest of new rules for the Supreme Court that Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government is rushing into law.
The European Parliament is more fragmented than ever in its history, which could lead to legislative paralysis. Shutterstock

To tackle climate change, immigration and threats to democracy, Europe’s fractious new Parliament will have to work together

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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Cabinet meeting in Moscow’s Kremlin. AP/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik

Russia, Putin lead the way in exploiting democracy’s lost promise

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.
While some are declaring that democracy has had its day, others see this as a time to develop more truly democratic ways of living. Gustav Klimt, Death and Life, 1910

Is Democracy Dead or Alive? Democracy has a future, if we rethink and remake it

Is it really time to eulogise democracy, or are we rather on the cusp of a new phase in its long and varied life?
What do you mean you can’t stick your hands up? DVA security operative at Poland’s private European Security Academy. JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP

In Central Europe, militarised societies are on the march

Politicians are promising to advance their countries’ international positions through nationalist militarisation and celebration of virile men.
Protestors hold banners saying ‘No to the stigmatisation of civilians’ at a meeting of the Hungarian parliament’s justice committee, prior to the bill’s approval. Laszlo Balogh/Reuters

Hungary cracks down on foreign funding, dealing a harsh blow to NGOs — and to European democracy

FROM OUR ARCHIVES (UPDATED) Hungary has passed a law monitoring the finances of foreign-funded NGOs, another blow to civil society in Viktor Orban’s increasingly “illiberal democracy”.
The ascendency of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines is just one of the shifts away from liberalism in southeast Asia. Reuters/Lean Daval Jr

Differences on liberalism provide Asia’s latest faultline

Shifts in southeast Asian countries’ political leadership has led to another worrying region-wide shift: away from liberalism.

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