It was a long yearning of mine to write a short piece about political caricature in 19th century France. I will not. Not because I wouldn’t want to, or I wouldn’t think it’s interesting, but because you wouldn’t. I know this, because upon getting inspired to the brink of writing, I asked 4Liberty’s excellent editor, Olga Łabendowicz, to furnish me with data as to what articles perform the best on the website. And because I…
The “you-know-what” brings out the worst in governments. It is one of the rare occasions that the military is used domestically. In some countries, it oversees the operation of strategic institutions and businesses.
Poland has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, yet the government hopes to reduce healthcare provision for women even more by criminalizing abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.
The “Coronavirus Law” adopted by the Hungarian Parliament on March 30 did not only enable Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to govern by decree for an unlimited period of time, but also suspended elections and referendums. With the passing of the emergency law, the parliament had disempowered itself.
The delayed elections give the opposition a small but significant window of opportunity to make known the responsibilities of the office of president – to make often tricky decisions for the good of the nation. President Duda has already shown to be Kaczynski’s president, not the people’s president.
Wide access to data will allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms of virus transmission and progress in the fight against the epidemic.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has led to numerous legislative changes in countries around the world. However, some governments quickly recognized this as a unique opportunity for further concentration and consolidation of power.
In times of crisis, it is easy to make mistakes, and no one can be infallible. One of the most characteristic signs of the crisis is its politicization. All parties want to prove that they have the best program and ideas to get out of the crisis.
Amid increased media and social pressure in the past month, presidents, prime ministers, ministers, governors, and mayors, and their teams, felt motivated but also cornered, forced to deliver quickly straightforward measures with almost instant effectiveness. Some rose in popularity, some fell.
The regime change in the former Eastern Bloc may rarely be connected to one specific date. It is rather considered a process which took place between 1989 and 1990. Of course,there were several important events. But none of them could be identified solely as “the” one that signifies the change of a regime.
