If this was any other country you'd have Emerging and Frontier Marker analysts circulating thinkpieces assessing the risks of a military coup

Odborník se může samozřejmě mýlit… Můj pohled na nadcházející české volby v rozhovoru s Andrejem Matisakem pro deník Pravda. spravy.pravda.sk/svet/clanok/...

Democracy is on dangerous ground when its fundamental rules become the main point of political contention. This is where we are today. The truth is that the institutions, not just the players, need to change. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Who is Andrej Babiš? He wants to run the state like a business, but he won't visit Putin after the elections. Listen to another episode of my 🎙 #podcast, #TheGlobalAgora. I talked to @drseanhanley.bsky.social. ▶️ podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/and... #Czechia #politics

The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

The former Welsh leader of Nigel Farage’s right-wing party Reform UK, Nathan Gill, has admitted to taking bribes in exchange for making pro-Russia statements while a member of the European Parliament. www.politico.eu/article/uk-e...

Not for the first time, Robert Fico amends the Slovak constitution in a socially illiberal direction with the support of the Christian Democrats and conservatives from what is usually presented as pro-Western non-populist opposition camp. www.politico.eu/article/slov...

Yesterday, Mr Fico's gov't Smer+Hlas+SNS amended Slovakia's constitution with the help of KDH (EPP). Current polling gives the four parties less than the needed 90 votes even with the out-of-parliament Republika (ESN) added. Two of ex PM Matovič's MPs (EPP) also voted with the gov't.

Yes, go to lectures and you’ll learn a surprising amount… Think really you should probably register though.

It's really important for the media and public to understand what's happening here as it's the same playbook as the MAGA coalition. Find all the fringe groups who don't trust institutions for whatever reason and promise them to deliver what they want so they build enough of a coalition to gain power

Protests have rocked countries in Southeast Asia and beyond in recent weeks, with young people taking to the streets to demonstrate against perceived elite corruption and excess. Read our new weekly newsletter, Southeast Asia Brief, here:

If Reform are ahead of the Conservatives nationally, the LibDems are much more likely to go up from 72 seats than down at the General Election. If they get 70-100+ seats the LibDems would do a quarter to a third of the work of how to make a Reform-led govt or right alliance unlikely (or impossible)

Poland will shoot down objects violating its airspace, prime minister says

I hate to admit it but I suspect McSweeney is right that the 2029 election will be a ‘republican front’ vs Farage. Farage veering further right makes that easier to do. Whether McSweeney’s own advice over the past year has made this situation more likely is another question…

Viktor Orban has made Hungary one of the poorest countries in the EU www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

I remember that an early development in the Putin era was that the Russian version of Spitting Image stopped. youtu.be/fmdEiL6Avv0?...

Hlasy Čechů ze Západní Evropy se v letošních volbách přičtou k Moravskoslezskému kraji – tradičně levicově/populisticky laděnému. Pro liberálně smýšlející voliče dilema: Piráti nebo STAN? V MS kraji jsou oba slabí (max 1 mandát?), ale Piráti vypadají jako jistější volba?

Expat votes in upcoming Czech elections are allocated to one of four randomly chosen electoral districts. Votes from West European expats will be counted in the traditionally left/ populist leaning Moravian Silesia district.

www.politico.eu/article/czec... Not really that president can say no as that he can nominate whoever he wishes as prime minister designate (twice) - and string out the whole process - but then parliament nominates PM. Much more about politics of influence as various pol scientists quoted point out.

Why do I foolishly keep asking rhetorical questions?

Masaryk’s “last words” envelope opened: insights into a nation’s founding president english.radio.cz/masaryks-las...

Liberalism is on the back foot in Europe and America. But it is one of humanity’s most successful ideas, as these five books show

🇨🇿 Join us @uclssees.bsky.social for a roundtable on the 2025 Czech parliamentary elections. Specialists discuss the results, their implications for democracy, society & Czechia’s role in Europe. 🗓 9 Oct, 6pm | Online & in-person #CzechElections #SSEES #BCSA. www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

. @aleksszczerbiak.bsky.social and I are talking about Central Europe next week at the British Czech Chamber of Commerce in London next week (Tue 23 September). www.tickettailor.com/events/czech...

Former Czech president Miloš Zeman has endorsed the national-populist left, communist-led Enough! bloc. No real surprise there - the nationalistically inclined rump of the Social Democrats are there too. The bloc is hovering just over the 5% threshold so the endorsement may matter.

💥🔎 Thrilling investigations into the GRU’s Europe-wide plot behind last year’s arson attacks and parcel bombs, plus unmasking the man dominating Europe’s porn industry, and fresh scoops from Central Europe — our Goulash newsletter is out on @vsquare.bsky.social!

Given this transited Belarus and Russia it shouldn’t have been happening anyway. So while rail freight is good, rail freight through Putin’s Russia to Europe shouldn’t be happening.

Board games aren’t just about winning—they’re about (gleefully) betraying and lying to your friends. Why does the opening of a cardboard box tend to unleash one’s inner Machiavelli? @julieebeck.bsky.social reports:

The Party of European Socialist will expel Robert Fico’s Direction - Slovak Social Democracy (Smer - SSD) next month, reports suggest. www.euractiv.com/news/exclusi...

I have inadvertently signed myself off “all beset”.  That’s a Freudian typo if ever there was.

Poland’s domestic paralysis weakens the entire Western response precisely when unity and strength are most critical, writes @mprochwicz.bsky.social https://bit.ly/45Rr50C

Czech populist radical right SPD gives you their own shitty beer if you vote for them…I guess that explains those 12-13% in the polls.

Foreign billionaires don’t get to incite violence against Britain. We cannot stay silent. 1/5 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

💰 How can countries prioritise defence without economic trouble? How can we make sanctions work? 🎙️ New podcast out now! On Spotify 👉 open.spotify.com/episode/2JkV... And YouTube 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCGA...

French Communist Party fined for lack of gender parity on electoral lists - it fielded more women than men…

Babiš in a Jesus-like mode (with a bit of nationalism in the background): “Vote for a better life”.

Elon Musk has *personally*posted in favour of the racist remigration agenda of the maximalist racist abusing the Home Secretary with this on X & endlessly posting racist harassment on X This should be a story. It should be a scandal. Musk should have to account for this, in person, in parliament

And they are still leading in the polls and none of this stuff seems to matter for many voters….

Babiš’s ANO programme surprisingly detailed and economic in focus: big (likely unaffordable) promises to pensioners & public workers, little culture-war or centralising reforms. Biggest risks to liberal institutions: national referendums & scrapping TV licence fees www.anobudelip.cz/file/edee/ke...

What drives Orbán’s veto against Ukraine funding?

It’s a sewer. Public institutions, including Universities, should take a stand and exit X.

🇭🇺Orbán has done more to de-consolidate democracy and to concentrate power in his own hands than any other leader among the countries of the European Union, writes @erikaschlager.bsky.social. Click to read more⤵️ visegradinsight.eu/the-allure-o...

Conspiracies, costume changes, and three-hour deep dives into Twilight: inside the wild west of YouTube video essays

It is now very clear for universities that (1) our governments won't help us, and (2) they don't understand the likely outcomes of that decision - or even the policy landscape itself. What I always say is: it's our job to carry through the bad times what we can. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I had a lovely chat with the LSE IQ podcast. You can listen to the podcast here: www.lse.ac.uk/lse-player?i... or read the extended transcript of my part of the interview on the Europp blog.

Angela Rayner’s plan for “mega-councils” will make services more remote, less accountable and more costly argues Trevor Stables. He says from his experience living there that France proves truly local democracy can work.

Chcete si připomenout, co přinesl v předvolebním klání srpen? Přečtěte si shrnutí na webu nebo ho pro vás na Spotify namluvila Katka. programydovoleb.cz/novinky/7928 #podcast #politika #volby

Students going back to school this year will find their classrooms transformed once again by the war in Ukraine.

Checks and balances -- when institutions fail, it is up to us to be the check. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

🎙️ In this new episode of our special series produced in partnership with @jodemocracy.bsky.social, @stanleysbill.bsky.social and @benstanley.eu discuss the challenges, dilemmas, and paradoxes of liberalism after illiberalism in Poland. 🇵🇱🇵🇱 🎧 Listen to it now: 👉 tinyurl.com/3kaezn2y