Articles

Today, we delude ourselves that when we stand before the High Court awaiting its final verdict, we are facing Themis — blindfolded, holding the scales and sword, the embodiment of ideal justice that disregards social status. Yet, these judges are not blind at all.

Technological development reaches into every area of life. Too often we view it only through the lens of information technology or AI; yet, the greatest revolution of modern times was the technological advancement of medicine and agriculture, which extended human life and enabled a spectacular growth of the global population.

Values will not defend themselves. Rights will not defend themselves. Freedom will not defend itself. And each of these elements of the order of liberal democracy is worth taking care of every day, but it is also worth—and necessary—to fight for them.

Is the Visegrad Group still relevant? Is it expereiencing its renaissance after Péter Magyar\'s win in Hungary? What is the relationship between the Visegrad countries and Ukraine? What types of projects does the International Visegrad Fund foster and what is their relevance in terms of cultural cooperation? And can civil society funding be considered as part of democratic infrastructure?

More than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian businesses continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience. Yet, the results of the latest New Monthly Enterprises Survey (NRES), conducted by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in May 2026, suggest that signs of a slower economic recovery are becoming increasingly visible.

An institution is never only a norm. It is also the extent to which people are willing to treat that norm as binding — and the methods they reach for when they are not.

Even in the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian businesses continue to view the customs system more positively than negatively. Yet, the latest survey of exporters and importers suggests that the focus of reform is changing.

Does the idea of an open society still have a place in today\'s world? Which four exponential forces currently run the world? And how to reconcile Europe\'s values and vision with those of other key geopolitical players? Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Mark Leonard, Co-Founder and Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the first pan-European think–tank.

Bureaucracy Index is a simple and transparent way to quantify the proverbial \"red tape\" — discussed daily in the media, yet rarely measured in concrete terms. It was introduced in 2016 in Slovakia by the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS), with the goal of comprehensively mapping the bureaucratic burden facing SMEs and its real cost in time and money.

The catastrophe cannot be explained by the embargo alone; Cuba’s deeper tragedy is the system itself — one that promises dignity to the worker while making ordinary work meaningless, underpaid and morally absurd. That is why today, according to media reports, Cubans lack even the most basic foods: rice, chicken and other everyday products, available only through ration cards after long hours in queues.