In 2018, most Brazilian citizens decided to live under a government that daily weakens our democracy and attacks its institutions, instilling terror in part of Brazilian society. By electing Jair Bolsonaro, we elect someone who not only openly defends the military dictatorship of 1964 but defends it in its worst aspects: the practice of torture, silencing, and murder of critics and opponents. Jair Bolsonaro is not merely a …
One central concept of contemporary social and political science is that of accountability. The presupposition that popular sovereignty requires that rulers be accountable to the people is a universal tenet of democratic theory. There is less agreement, however, on how to produce governmental accountability. As processes of democratic consolidation unfolded in the third-wave democracies, a liberal model of accountability as limited government gained ground, as many analysts called …
Putin and the Dictator’s Playbook Chinese leader Xi Jinping asserted at the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that “China always respects all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Some political commentators interpret the statement as Chinese support for respecting national borders, including that of Ukraine, limiting China’s ability to support Russia’s invasion. However, this may be a misinterpretation of Xi’s meaning, particularly as he does not actually …
Autocratic Russia’s invasion of democratic Ukraine raises many questions about Taiwan, whose independence is also under existential threat from its larger and more powerful neighbor. Neither Russia nor China sees Ukraine and Taiwan, respectively, as independent states. China thinks it is completely consistent that it: (a) “respects and safeguards the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries” including Ukraine, while (b) considering Taiwan a mere province and …
We often hear that in times of war, political divisions should be put aside. As Polish government officials like to say, this isn’t “the right time” to discuss petty domestic issues. Yet, it’s apparently the “right time” for them to continue to dismantle Poland’s democracy. It might seem that the war in Ukraine will change everything about our politics, especially in terms of our approach to the …
In not recognizing multiple imperialisms, is the Left also guilty of Americocentrism? It is tough for leftists to be on the same side as the mainstream. We can easily feel at those times that we’re missing something, that we’re letting down the struggle, that by ganging up even on an admittedly bad actor we’re helping strengthen the nemesis at home, allowing it to appear as the good guy. …
I can’t depend on things that I have long assumed. Democracy in America, flawed as it has been, can no longer be counted on; social progress can no longer be anticipated. Indeed, the survival of the species is becoming less and less likely. Many on the left and the right contend that, therefore, these desperate times require desperate, radical measures. But I don’t think so. I think, …
Do they work, can they work? If the opposition parties had agreed on a candidate, Orban in Hungary, Modi in India, Duterte in the Philippines, and Morawiecki in Poland wouldn’t have won the last national election in their countries. In fact, the incapacity of the opposition to establish election alliances helps authoritarian governments all around the world. One of the factors behind this incapacity is the fact that …
Kateryna Mishchenko is a Ukrainian writer, curator and publisher. She is co-founder and editor of the Ukrainian publishing house Medusa, and has also served as the editor of Prostory, a magazine on art, literature and social critique. A participant in our recent Democracy Seminar webinar on the Russian war on Ukraine, Kateryna spoke powerfully about her initial shock and horror at the Russian attack, which she experienced from her …
Putin and the limits of Realism The Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the unified international response to it, have raised once again the specter of nuclear war. After the US, the EU, Canada, Japan and Australia responded to the invasion with robust economic sanctions, Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to move to a higher state of alert—to take up “a special regime of combat duty” that has no …
