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democratic backsliding

December 17, 2025

🎈 When do citizens tolerate democratic violations? Lessons from Hungary’s pandemic emergency 

Zsófia Papp Zsófia Papp and Godfred Bonnah Nkansah show that during Covid-19, Hungarians judged the quality of democracy less by procedural norms and more by government performance. Their findings reveal when citizens in backsliding regimes accept violations of democratic standards – and when they refuse to compromise  Read more
December 16, 2025

🦋 Reimagining democratic theory 

Gulay Icoz Gulay Icoz explores how the rejuvenated Science of Democracy series – Science of Democracy 2.0 – challenges conventional democratic theory. Here, she explains how it opens new pathways for citizen-led innovation while raising critical questions about institutional grounding and feasibility  Read more
December 2, 2025

🌈 Why gendering democracy matters now, more than ever  

Paloma Caravantes González To kickstart a new round of blogs in the Gendering Democracy series, Paloma Caravantes, Laura Eigenmann and Francesca Feo recap the discussion so far, explaining why we need to keep gender at the centre of research on the politics of our time – and where we should go next Read more
October 27, 2025

Is Latin American democracy showing signs of recovery?

Tim Pires Alves After almost twenty years of democratic decline, in 2023, liberal democracy in Latin America appeared to be regaining strength. But has it managed to sustain the trend? Tim Pires Alves assesses whether recent developments heralded a new global wave of democratisation, or whether we merely glimpsed the calm before an even harsher autocratic storm Read more
August 15, 2025

🌊 How Romania’s educational institutions resisted illiberal pressures

Gabriela-Elena Plăpămaru Amid rising illiberalism, Romanian democratic institutions face growing pressure. Gabriela Plăpămaru reveals how the traditional right tried to undermine Romania’s education sector — and how progressives responded with institutional resilience Read more
April 8, 2025

Gulf of America: rewriting the rules of public discourse

Christoph Deppe Scientific investigation into how disinformation affects democracy has never been more important. But autocrats and populists discredit such research, along with any journalism that challenges their worldview. Christoph Deppe describes how, under Trump’s second administration, changing the rules of communication is manipulating public discourse Read more
April 3, 2025

Seeing is believing: how protest visuals are rewriting Romania’s future

Mimi Mihăilescu A picture may be worth a thousand words, but protest visuals, especially during political upheaval, read like novels. Mimi Mihăilescu shows how visuals aren't just for documentation – they persuade, polarise, and shape public opinion. In Romania, where two protest factions are currently clashing, visuals are on the frontline of political warfare Read more
March 3, 2025

Hungary and the future of Europe

John Chin On 1 January, Hungary's six-month presidency of the EU Council ended and the EU made the unprecedented decision to withhold aid to Hungary over rule-of-law violations. John Chin and Mirren Hibbert put these developments in the context of continuing democratic backsliding in Hungary – and divisions over the future of Europe Read more

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