The Political Economy of Contemporary Populist Authoritarianism: The Examples of Poland, Serbia and Turkey

This policy brief, based on a panel discussion with experts on Turkey, Serbia and Poland, argues that competitive authoritarianism is resurging as leaders exploit crises, legalism and personalization to hollow out democratic checks while preserving a façade of elections; Turkey’s Erdogan uses a legalistic veneer, clientelism and risky economic policy, Serbia’s Vučić combines opaque high […]

Polen und Serbien – Über tiefe Spuren der Autokratisierung und die Mühsal der demokratischen Erneuerung

Polen und Serbien haben in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten bzw. durchlaufen noch immer im Falle Serbiens eine tiefgreifende Autokratisierung von Staat und Gesellschaft, deren strukturelle Tiefe demokratische Erneuerung nachhaltig erschwert. Der Text analysiert vier zentrale Dimensionen dieser Entwicklung: Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Governance, Medien und Öffentlichkeit sowie Ideologie. In diesen Bereichen sind deutliche Merkmale einer starken De-Demokratisierung und […]

Worrying about the bomb? – Nuclear proliferation fears & China’s foreign policy

Unprecedented nuclear proliferation risks are emerging, as nuclear powers break the non-proliferation grand bargain by foregoing disarmament, Russia and North Korea threaten nuclear strikes against non-nuclear armed states during Moscow’s war of conquest, and US allies lose trust in extended deterrence. While China has been sympathetic to arguments about the need to mitigate regional security […]

Review of the Conference ‘Science Diplomacy and Heritage: On the Politics of Fragments, the Role of Science, and the Perception of Lacunas’

  One week ago, the conference “Science Diplomacy and Heritage: On the Politics of Fragments, the Role of Science, and the Perception of Lacunas” took place at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi in Venice, bringing together leading voices from diplomacy, academia, arts and cultural institutions. A big thank you to Ali Cherri whose work was […]