Authoritarianism

It’s been a difficult and dizzying few months for Turkey—which is just the way the president likes it.

Since they were labeled an extremist group in 2017, more than 400 have been charged or convicted.

There are two possible outcomes of U.S.-China competition—but Washington should prepare for the more turbulent one.

An investigation into the suppression of protests discovered the widespread use of Russian weapons.

Rwanda’s president once welcomed the Hollywood film. His recent attacks on the movie and its protagonist show that his government cannot handle dissent.

Democracies have to learn how to manage some people’s innate fears of change.

With democracy still in retreat, it is time to get smart about fighting back.

Amid economic crisis, sweeping new legislation on “public order” would stifle dissent—and effectively criminalize people for being poor.

Freedom House says transnational repression is on the rise—led by China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

To stop future attacks like the Capitol invasion, the Biden administration must lead the way in pushing social media platforms to counter the far-right.

Jan. 6 was a classic example of propaganda by the deed—a revolutionary approach favored by everyone from 19th-century anarchists to Osama bin Laden.

The incumbent president won in a landslide, but a populist right-wing candidate raised eyebrows in a country that has so far avoided extremes.

Paul Rusesabagina is the latest dissident to be caught in the Rwandan ruler’s authoritarian net. Western governments must stop portraying President Paul Kagame’s repressive regime as a development success story.

After the Capitol attack, the U.S. government needs to recognize racist extremists as a national security risk and create a high-level counterterrorism czar to disrupt their financing and dismantle their networks.

And it is time to treat it like one.

Trump’s movement is a uniquely American fascism, built on a century of American imperialism.

Donald Trump decried ‘American carnage’ in his 2017 inaugural address on the Capitol steps. His rhetoric made it a reality in 2021.

Citizens hungry for information turned to the media during the pandemic, but governments around the world used the crisis to restrict journalists.

U.S.-China competition isn’t just about great-power rivalry. It’s about the ideological battle between democracy and authoritarianism, too.

From Cairo to Riyadh, autocrats are nervous about what a Biden administration might mean for their relationship with Washington.