Freedom of Speech
Protests rage in Georgia as its authoritarian governing party steers away from the country’s commitment to EU membership.
Read moreAs Vladimir Putin’s regime descends into dictatorship, Russia’s beleaguered independent media are fighting for survival.
Read moreThe practice of targeting “enemy“ citizens abroad is not new, but it is on a rise and undermines fundamental rights.
Read morePavel Latushka, a key figure in Belarus’s opposition, discusses the movement for democracy with Roderick Kefferpütz.
Read moreThe upcoming referendum in Turkey might give President Erdogan even greater power, threatening democratic rights in the country.
Read moreIn the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the French and European responses have focused on security and how to reinforce it. At the same time, far-right movements are making gains across Europe, attacks on mosques have increased and a distorted secularist discourse is leading to further marginalisation of religious groups.
Read moreAn old friend once told me that being a decent person means having a guilty conscience. And there is enough to feel guilty about as 2015 unfolds. Ethical uncertainty over how a liberal society should deal with the intolerant has become strikingly evident following the murders of four French Jews in a kosher grocery and twelve editors and staff members of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine located in Paris, by partisans of al-Qaeda and, its rival, ISIS.
Read moreHas the rise of new media helped to strengthen democracy in Turkey, where press freedom has long been in a fragile state? Or have the new trends, technologies and channels been co-opted by authorities to use for their own ends, as an updated instrument of the party? Despite the potential of new media, the events following last year’s protests in Turkey do not give us cause for optimism in this regard.
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