Op-eds

Do the familiar tropes of anti-tyrannical literature explain anything about what happened and is still happening in contemporary Hungary, a country that has changed so profoundly not only as compared to its post-1989 realities but from its 2010 self too?

Thailand is about to hold a general election in May 2023. Several progressive political parties are proposing to pass an act to abolish conscription. But the military, which has always meddled with Thai politics, has indicated it will block any efforts in this direction.

Representative Pearson is part of this tradition of American political protest – a tradition that conservative conceptions of civility and peaceful protest mischaracterize and aim to delegitimize; a tradition against which Tennessee Republicans and Obama fundamentally stand, despite appearances. There’s no peace, Representative Pearson reminds us, without confrontation.

In this op-ed by Peter Agha, PhD, he argues for a different analysis of the current trouble with Europe, one which starts from the recognition of the irregularity of the rule of law policies and highlights how the clashes between the populist movements and the rule of law doctrine reflect the structural inequalities of the…

Dóra Mérai, a lecturer of Cultural Heritage Studies at CEU, explores how heritage – often used to promote divisions – has also been reframed in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion “to develop empathy, express solidarity, and help people cope with the difficulties”.

A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, catching many of us unprepared despite clear signs of impending conflict. The assumption that a European nation would conquer another in the 21st century appeared far-fetched. When the worst scenario happened, experts doubted Ukraine’s ability to hold its ground for more than a few weeks. However, the country keeps…

In this op-ed, the author describes life in Russia’s propaganda machine, and how the internet provides venues for Russians to access media that is not controlled by the government.

Wolfgang Merkel offers a typological classification of Putin’s Russia after exploring how it compares with fascist regimes in Germany and Italy as well as Stalinism, and opines that several factors will contribute to Russia’s “poor prospects” for democratization.

This war, of which we are commemorating the anniversary today, is undoubtedly the most important war of our time, because it is a war in which the imperial-chauvinist-totalitarian project is struggling with the democratic, European, pluralist project on the one hand.

Vladimir Dubrovskiy, senior economist at CASE Ukraine, explores why the Russian state, which is based on the principle of “vertical power”, appears to be inept in the face of war.

In this op-ed, RevDem managing editor Michal Matlak looks at the relevance of the war in Ukraine to Fukuyama’s often-mocked thesis of the end of history and addresses the implications of the accession process for Ukraine, as well as for the EU.

Jiří Přibáň comments the outcome of the recent presidential elections in the Czech Republic.

In this op-ed, authors Thiha Wint Aung and Htet Min Lwin argue for the abolition of the armed forces in Burma.

Kasia Krzyżanowska, RevDem editor of the Review of Books section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books in democracy in literature in 2022.

Although national referenda have become a rare species in post-2010 Hungary, the use of another instrument of plebiscitarian democracy—non-binding informal polls called national consultations—has not only been serving as a legitimization tool of government policies, but it has also been adopted by an opposition movement as a mobilization technique. This article argues that the strategic…

In this op-ed, Ferenc Laczó explores how Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s regime “has been succeeding to a remarkable degree at translating key aspects of Hungarian ethnic nationalism into a wider panic about the future of Western civilization.”

The transitional justice measures introduced by PiS are not only at odds both with the Polish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, but are also a worrying sign of a departure from the model of inclusive democracy.

In his latest op-ed, RevDem editor Oliver Garner analyzes the Italian election results and their implications not only for Italy, but also for the European Union.

To mark the International Day of Democracy, we present an op-ed by Wolfgang Merkel examining the state of democracy around the world.

Responding to critiques of their op-ed on why the war in Ukraine should not be discussed using the “democracy vs. autocracy” framework, authors Irina Domurath and Stefano Palestini further develop why orienting the discussion around Russia’s abuse of international law could draw more international support and avoid escalation into a Third World War.

In this op-ed, Magdalena Smieszek explains how citizens’ assemblies on the national level promote inclusive discourse because of their bottom-up approach; the variety of transnational and global citizens’ assemblies focused on climate change; and what impact these assemblies might have on climate change action.

A dictatorship has just brutally attacked its democratic neighbor. It’s not the first time in history that happens, but there are good reasons to see the war in Ukraine as the first one defining the conflict lines of this century.

In this op-ed by Elżbieta Kwiecińska and Pavel Skigin, they detail why “being a radical pacifist is a great privilege that only Westerners can afford nowadays.”

In this op-ed by Irina Domurath and Stefano Palestini, they discuss the war in Ukraine and why the West should leave behind the narrative that this is a “war of values.”

On 3 March 2022 Moldova applied for EU membership. After the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Moldova started to build its independent statehood based on democratic values. However, the question that arises is whether Moldova reached its political and legal maturity to join the EU. 

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti and Federico Ottavio Reho in their op-ed for RevDem claim that political parties and other intermediary bodies are central for the democratization of the European Union.

Ferenc Laczó discusses with Kiran Klaus Patel his latest book “Europäische Integration. Geschichte und Gegenwart” (European Integration: History and the Present Day).

Ken Godfrey and Richard Youngs write about 5 issues on the horizon in 2022 that will test how far the EU really is committed to defending democratic values.

This is our first RevDem thread – a series of short pieces answering key questions about modern democracies from top experts and practitioners in the field. We invite all interested authors to send further comments to our email address.

In this conversation, hosted by RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Roosevelt Montás discusses his recent book “Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation”.

Adam Bodnar on new rights that should be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights

Michał Matlak writes about the most controversial candidate in the French presidential elections – Eric Zemmour.

This op-ed considers whether the reforms to the EU withdrawal that use the lessons of Brexit to address the possibility of “Polexit” can be helpful in resolving the ongoing values crisis in the EU. 

Máté Szalai considers the three key narratives that observers and analysts use when discussing the historic elections held in Qatar this October. The first narrative highlights the elections as a vital milestone in the slow process of democratization, the second noted the importance of identity politics and voting rights, and the final narrative opined that…

The authors summarize and contextualize the content of the summit to argue that the conference not only provided an opportunity for its participants to address the ‘demographic crisis’ in Europe and the ‘family politics of conservative’ governments,’ but also amounted to an attempt to develop a transnational narrative for such self-declared conservatives that could unite…

In many developed countries, polarization of young women and men has been increasingly visible in polls and has been noted by public opinion.

In this article, Edit Zgut discusses how the governments in Hungary and Poland have been able to undermine democracy using informal power, namely political clientism and media capture, while “flying beneath the radar” of EU’s mechanisms which are meant to prevent such deteriorations.

RevDem editor Oliver Garner reflects here on the present threat to the Rule of Law arising from the fraught context of renegotiation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

In their op-ed, Aleksandra Maatsch and Eric Miklin argue populist parties are both willing and able to weaken or even disempower representative institutions.

We are publishing an open letter signed by key figures from the American political life.

Diego A Salazar-Morales analyses for us the political crisis in Peru.

Stefano Palestini writes about the Inter-American Democratic Charter on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.

Ameni Mehrez analyses the political situation in Tunisia after the summer wave of protests.

Wolfgang Merkel in his op-Ed analyses three aspects of democracy crises: scientistation, moralisation and polarisation.

Luíza Cerioli analyses the situation of Iran after the presidential elections, focusing on the international consequences of this choice.

In his article, Ferenc Laczo writes about the roots of the division of Europe into East and West and its consequences for European politics today.

Our editor, Katarzyna Krzyżanowska, writes about the relation between the rule of law in Poland and the idea of legal impossibilism, providing some worrying empirical data on the administration of justice in Poland.

April 2021 marks the first month of the Review of Democracy, RevDem for short, an intellectual and academic journal founded by the CEU Democracy Institute. In our first editorial, we would like to inform our readers about the purpose of the Review and the main ideas behind it.

On 25 January the CEU Democracy Institute hosted Commissioner Didier Reynders and MEP Katalin Cseh for a debate on the new EU Regulation on Rule of Law conditionality. In this first editorial of the RevDem Rule of Law section, editor Oliver Garner and assistant editor Teodora Miljojkovic reflect on the implications for constitutional democracy of the impression…

The mainstream media and academia as well as political elites identify populist movements as the most important threat to the current liberal democratic regime. Populist actors have indeed unsettled and begun reshaping the European political landscape.

Rule of Law and academic freedom are cherished political ideals of the liberal tradition. Insights from our work at McGill University’s academic freedom monitoring clinic, conducted in partnership with Scholars at Risk Network, has underscored the mutually reinforcing relationship between these two notions.