βοΈ The resounding defeat of the first proudly illiberal regime within the enlarged West forces us to revise entrenched wisdoms about it, Ferenc LaczΓ³ writes in his reflection on the Hungarian elections. ππΊπ³οΈ
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/27mvd9p7
Mark your calendar for this event, where our experts will discuss the most important implications of the Hungarian elections! ππΊπ³οΈ
π£οΈ Andras Bozoki
π£οΈ Zsuzsanna Szelenyi
π£οΈ Gabor Toka
π£οΈ Balint Mikola
ποΈ Apr 20, 5pm CET
π Budapest / online
Details:
π cutt.ly/LtFjtWoC
Registration:
π cutt.ly/RtFjujEJ
βοΈποΈ "Hungary must seize its chance to oust Viktor Orban," Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, Program Director of our Leadership Academy writes in an op-ed in @economist.com. ππΊπ³οΈ
Details:
π cutt.ly/LtDKjYvm
βοΈ βThe vote on April 12 is Hungaryβs best chance in 16 years to choose democracy over autocracy. It may not come again,β our researchers Balint Magyar and Balint Madlovics write in their op-ed in @foreignaffairs.com. ππΊπ³οΈ
Read it now:
π cutt.ly/etFh64Cc
βοΈ Hungary is awaiting a decisive election, which may cement autocratization or open a path for democratic recovery. In his article, Balint Mikola summarizes the most important expectations, potential outcome scenarios, and their respective implications. ππΊπ³οΈ
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/3uetsb5f
ποΈ In our new podcast produced in partnership with the @jodemocracy.bsky.social, AndrΓ©s MejΓa Acosta and @javierpsandoval.bsky.social discuss how, why, and when elected leaders seek to undermine the state.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/ef276rd6
Mark your calendar for this discussion, co-organized with Political Capital! ππΊπ³οΈ
π£οΈ @fromtga.bsky.social
π£οΈ Krisztina Arato
π£οΈ @zsolt.bsky.social
π£οΈ Peter Kreko
ποΈ Apr 10, 5pm CET
π Budapest, Nador u. 15.
Details:
π cutt.ly/UtAGDDMu
Registration:
π cutt.ly/3tAGD4sF
ποΈ In our new podcast, @gabilotta.bsky.social explores the risks that emerge when the relationship between politics and bureaucracy breaks down and how these tensions shape democratic governance.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/382kszrh
ποΈ In our new podcast, produced in cooperation with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Luciano Da Ros and @manoelgehrke.bsky.social examine how courts can confront authoritarian behavior by elected leaders and why judicial action sometimes succeeds. π§ββοΈπ§ββοΈ
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/48k3vrkm
ποΈ In our new podcast produced in collaboration with the @jodemocracy.bsky.social, @chenoweth.bsky.social and @matthewcebul.bsky.social discuss the political profile of Gen-Z protesters and what ignited their recent protests across the globe. βπͺ§
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/ypefjnjx
βοΈ Donald Trumpβs second term exposes how the structural logic of populism breaks down under its own expansion. What once relied on a clear moral divide now operates through thinning legitimacy and the staging of permanent confrontation, Ece Γzbey argues.
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/4nw23536
Mark your calendar for the next event in our series, focusing on religious actors.
π£οΈ @emiliapalonen.bsky.social
π£οΈ @lomascolo.bsky.social
π£οΈ @shekhovtsov.substack.com
π£οΈ @zsolt.bsky.social
ποΈ Mar 9, 5pm CET
π Budapest / YouTube
Details:
π shorturl.at/b8ZrY
Registration:
π shorturl.at/REo2i
Mark your calendar for the second event in our series! ππΊππΊ
π£οΈ Peter Kreko
π£οΈ Veronika Kovesdi
π£οΈ Balint Mikola
π£οΈ @boralexander.bsky.social
ποΈ Mar 2, 5pm CET
π Budapest / YouTube
Details:
π cutt.ly/1tnq3bkY
Registration:
π shorturl.at/2rN2p
ποΈ In our new podcast, produced in collaboration with the @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Galo Mayorga and @kaimthaler.bsky.social discuss how state weakness, militarized security policies, and public fear are reshaping Ecuadorβs democracy. πͺπ¨πͺπ¨
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/y5zyn6jp
ποΈ In our new podcast produced in collaboration with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, @raschwartz.bsky.social discusses how logistical failures, elite conflict, and long-term democratic erosion combined to the uncertainty surrounding the elections in Honduras. ππ³ππ³π³οΈ
π§ Listen now:
π tinyurl.com/yk339tbx
ποΈ In this exclusive end-of-year conversation with our Co-Managing Editor Ece Γzbey, Nobel Prize-winning political economist @dacemoglumit.bsky.social reflects on what 2025 revealed and failed to resolve about the state of democracy.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/mfh3zv6u
ποΈ In our new podcast, Pedro Abramovay (@open-society.bsky.social) offers a wide-ranging analysis of the rise of illiberal forces in Latin America and the democratic vulnerabilities they exploit.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/2att7rwb
ποΈ In the new episode of our podcast series produced in cooperation with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, @nateschenkkan.bsky.social examines transnational repression: a practice where states pursue individuals and groups beyond their own borders.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/mvbfhx4t
βοΈ In the first op-ed of his new series, @danielhegedus.bsky.social outlines the strategic framework for a reorientation of the foreign policy of a future democratic Hungary, mapping the challenges, trade-offs, and opportunities. ππΊππΊ
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/cbtcew39
βοΈ Across the world, strongmen follow the same playbook to dismantle democracy. But their favorite tool could also become their greatest weakness if democracyβs defenders learn to flip the script, Filip Milacic writes in his op-ed.
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/yn3uczmx
ππ₯π§ββοΈ At the @ceudeminst.bsky.socialβs Rule of Law Clinic, ArtΕ«rs KuΔs, Judge of the @echr.coe.int, analyzed how courts shape the understanding and protection of the rule of law in Europe.
π§βπ» Read a summary by Karolina Godal:
π tinyurl.com/4mdxnsfj
ποΈ In our new podcast produced in collaboration with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Maya Tudor argues that todayβs decline in trust in democracy stems from misconceptions about its achievements.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/2s965u3f
βοΈ Peruβs democracy is eroding not through aspiring autocrats but through exhaustion. Entrenched informality hollows out authority and turns governance into a marketplace of deals rather than a system of rules, @eljorobado.bsky.social argues in his op-ed. π΅πͺπ΅πͺ
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/3hdcnjjb
ποΈ In our new podcast, @ashkingdon.bsky.social and @lubardab.bsky.social discuss how both the far-right and the far-left mobilize ecological ideas, often drawing from the same language of resistance.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/y6tm5b4a
βοΈ Southeast Asia shows how democracyβs openness can be weaponized. Flexible illiberalism, the art of using democratic institutions to pursue illiberal ends, reveals how democracy endures not by collapsing, but by changing hands, Aqida Salma argues in her op-ed.
π§βπ» Read it now:
π tinyurl.com/4xv4vyte
ποΈ In the new podcast of our series co-produced with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Dean Jackson and Samuel Woolley discuss the ways in which AI could strain, or even crack, the foundations of democracies.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/4t2z3p3c
Join us for this film screening, followed by a discussion! π½οΈπ₯
π£οΈ Adrian Favell
π£οΈ Pavel Bandakov
π£οΈ @sarahganty.bsky.social
π£οΈ @cobrien.bsky.social
ποΈ Nov 7, 4:30pm CET
π Budapest, Nador u. 15
Details:
π cutt.ly/6r3eHsOx
Registration:
π cutt.ly/hr3eIyW0
Mark your calendar for this lecture and discussion!
π£οΈ ArtΕ«rs KuΔs, Judge, @echr.coe.int
π£οΈ @grabowskamoroz.bsky.social
π£οΈ Paolo Pinto de Albuquerque
π£οΈ AndrΓ‘s SajΓ³
π£οΈ RenΓ‘ta Uitz
ποΈ Nov 7, 1pm CET
π Budapest, Nador u. 15
Details:
π cutt.ly/nr3eUK84
Registration:
π cutt.ly/hr3eIyW0
π΄ LIVE NOW π΄
Follow the roundtable, co-hosted with our journal, the @revdem2020.bsky.social, featuring LΓ‘szlΓ³ Bruszt, Pedro Abramovay, @cqschneider.bsky.social, Fiona Tregenna, and Zsuzsanna SzelΓ©nyi!
πΉπ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uay3...
ποΈ In the latest episode of our special series produced in partnership with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Jennifer Cyr and @fromagehomme.bsky.social reflect on why projects of re-democratization after periods of authoritarian rule often fail in the long term.
π§ Listen to it now:
π tinyurl.com/pasz7maz