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Populist governments faring better in COVID crisis

“Populist governments hedge power in Corona crisis” Courtesy of IFW Kiel   On average, populist governments record significantly lower increases in popularity in the coronavirus crisis than non-populist ones, even though they usually introduced similar policies to contain the pandemic. At the same time, however, populists are making greater use of emergency laws to weaken […]

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Hong Kong democracy movement still in China’s crosshairs

  By Dr. Alexander Görlach, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs   The aim is for Hong Kong to be like every other city in China: under the complete control of the Communist Party. Since the return of the former crown colony to the People’s Republic, the autonomous metropolis and hub of […]

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Will this Black Swan make us stronger?

“The corona shock: the virus, an almost black swan and a changed world” By Prof. Dr. Henning Vöpel, courtesy of HWWI     The ultimate system shock   For a globalized and permissive society it is the ultimate, the greatest conceivable state of emergency: from one hundred to zero, from unlimited freedom of movement to […]

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Post-Brexit, Imperiled Transatlantic Relationship More Important Than Ever

  By Dr. Alexander Görlach, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs   The UK’s impending departure from the European Union on January 31 creates at least one certainty.  Following the Tories’ resounding victory in the December parliamentary elections, any further talk of a second referendum is empty rhetoric; the idea was rejected […]

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The Sake-Scotch Pact: New EU-Japan alliance forming

  “A Surprising New Alliance: Europe and Japan” Courtesy of CEPS   Almost surreptitiously, Europe and Japan are discovering they have a great deal in common, joining up to defend free trade, democracy and the rule of law.   For decades, low-grade commercial friction and political indifference marked the relationship. Japan’s powerful car industry frightened […]

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Hungary Squares the Circle of Globalization

    By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief   What does a smallish Central European country have to teach the rest of the world about inclusive growth, fighting income inequality, and social cohesion, all while steering clear of protectionism and maintaining an open economy – in short, “squaring the circle” of globalization? In the case of […]

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“A European pillar in NATO is overdue”

  “After the EU elections: Perspectives and priorities for 2019-2024” By Herman Van Rompuy, courtesy of the EPC   EPC President Herman Van Rompuy delivered the following speech at the EPC Annual Conference on 6 November 2019 in Brussels.    I want to talk to you today about European unity, European sovereignty and the future […]

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Macron is neither liberal nor a reformer (but he IS French)

                      Those who are fond of Voltaire’s famous quip about the Holy Roman Empire should take pleasure in the evisceration of Emmanuel Macron by CapX’s Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, who argues that the French liberal reformer is in fact none of these things — well, except that […]

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Liberalism ain’t obsolete, Vlad – YOU are

                        Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president/prime minister/president for life, recently declared liberalism “obsolete” in an interview with the Financial Times. According to Putin, whose own political shelf life must surely be ticking down, liberalism is done for because it has “come into conflict with the […]