Laura Dean
Candidate lists in Latvia contain only 38.6% women. Latvia is unlikely to improve women’s representation in its municipal elections unless Latvian voters adopt preference voting, and 'plus' their women candidates, writes Laura Dean Read more
Aliaksei Kazharski
Following the end of the Cold War, the Visegrád 4 of Hungary, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia embarked on a 'return to the West'. These countries, writes Aliaksei Kazharski, are hardly beacons of democracy. But could they anchor Europeanisation and democratic change in East-Central Europe? Read more
Dragomir Stoyanov
The success of new challenger parties in Bulgaria's recent national election has reconfigured the country's party system. Dragomir Stoyanov speculates that this may well mark an end to the decade-long era of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Read more
Veronica Anghel
Under the Biden administration, the EU stands to have an ally against authoritarian tendencies in some Central and Eastern European countries writes Veronica Anghel. But US involvement will not be transformative Read more
Gala Naseva
A lack of state initiatives to curb unemployment among young people in the Western Balkans has resulted in the highest emigration rate in Europe, writes Gala Naseva — and the pandemic is making matters worse for this vulnerable group Read more
Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene
Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene considers the current mass protests in Poland against the near-total ban on abortion as the manifestation of a nascent cultural (r)evolution. But it doesn't necessarily signal that a political revolution is in the offing – at least not yet Read more
Hanna Vasilevich
In August 2020, following a hotly disputed presidential election, Aliaksandr Lukashenko was declared President of Belarus. Since then, the country has experienced relentless street protests against electoral fraud, writes Hanna Vasilevich Read more