Articles

The policy of fear reigns in the West. Globalization, international terrorism, financial crises, deindustrialization, and increasingly less stable labor market lead to the emergence of social anxiety that fuels right-wing populism.

The last couple of years have seen the citizens of several CEE countries witness the erosion of hard-earned liberalism, while privately and publicly weighing on how to prevent populists in power from further trampling citizen’s freedoms and rights.

One does not fight against racism and antisemitism along with the heirs of Nazism but by fighting resolutely against them. It is simple: Herbert Kickl must be excluded from the meeting of the Working Group against Racism.

Bureaucracy Index was introduced in Slovakia in 2016 by Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) to emphasize the amount of red tape a small entrepreneur has to overcome on a daily basis. It is based on a straightforward methodology, using an analysis of a model company.

Past week, the Economic Freedom of the World: 2018 Annual Report was released. The report is based on data from 2016 and measures the economic freedom by analyzing the policies and institutions of 162 countries and territories.

In 2016, Institute of Economic and Social Studies decided to establish and commemorate the International Bureaucracy Day. We chose the date of September, marked by the birthday of Ludwig von Mises, author of the brilliant analytical book Bureaucracy.

On September 12, 2018, the European Parliament voted to initiate sanctions under Article 7 against Hungary. While the decision is definitely not a win for Viktor Orbán on a European level, it did boost his position at home.

Ukraine is seen as a country where political corruption have become a natural component of social relationships. A consensus has even emerged that it will be impossible for Ukraine to be successful without eradicating widespread corruption. Fighting corruption is a multi-dimensional process.

If Ukraine loses the chance to receive assistance from the IMF and other international donors in 2018, the government will be hard-pressed to execute planned fiscal expenditures in 2018. The fiscal indicators will be also revised for 2019 to lower real GDP growth and higher inflation.

Today, I have some very bad news. Yes, this is the end of democracy in Poland. Yesterday (2015 parliamentary elections), the votes of Poles began this process, today it is in the middle, and tomorrow (2019 parliamentary elections), it may end with the death of the free Republic of Poland as we know it.