The Turkish president came to power as an antiestablishment everyman. Twenty years later he is an authoritarian leader clinging to power. Will the forces that catapulted him to power be his demise? | Philip Balboni

There have been numerous waves of protest against the country’s corrupt theocracy. This time is different. It is a movement to reclaim life. Whatever happens, there is no going back. | Asef Bayat

The Russian autocrat forgot an age-old truth about working with common criminals and soldiers for hire. By Zoltan Barany June 2023 A wonderful gift for Ukraine. My first thought upon reading the news that Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, had called for an armed rebellion was that this serious rupture within the Russian…

The Kremlin’s order to call up Russians to fight in Ukraine risks massive protests. It’s the riskiest decision of Putin’s rule, and it could lead to his undoing. | By Robert Person

The Russian autocrat’s system of control has rested on pillars that are beginning to crumble.

How does a Russian autocrat celebrate Victory Day while losing a war? Expect lies, myths, and propaganda.  May 2022 By Olexiy Minakov Every year on May 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day to mark the 1945 triumph of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazism. The spirit of militant Russian patriotism reaches its apogee on…

The Russian leader declared war on his country’s independent journalists. But Russian media outsmarted him by taking their operations overseas. They are now reaching more people than ever before. | Roman Badanin

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t just another land grab. It’s an attempt to recolonize lost empire, and threatens to return us to the age of conquest. | Renée de Nevers and Brian D. Taylor

Why Emmanuel Macron’s reelection hangs on him winning support from the very people he has ignored most. April 2022  By Moshik Temkin This month’s French presidential election is giving off a strong sense of déjà vu. As in 2017 and 2002, a center-right presidential candidate (this time, current president Emmanuel Macron) faces off in…

Why we must tackle the threat posed by Putin and his authoritarianism head on.   May 2022 By David J. Kramer  The best hope for democracy in Russia—and all of Eurasia—is for the international community to support Ukraine in its efforts to defeat Vladimir Putin. The stakes for Ukraine, Russia, and the entire globe, for that…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the public to see his efforts to overhaul the Israeli judiciary as a “reform.” But people have seen it for what it is: a struggle over the very future of democracy itself. | Natan Sachs

The suffragists imagined that a greater role for women in democratic politics would lead to a more peaceful world. Few realize how right they were. | Joslyn N. Barnhart and Robert F. Trager

Nationwide protests against Xi Jinping’s zero-covid policy caught the Chinese Communist Party off-guard. Expect the Party’s security apparatus to strike back with quiet precision. | Sheena Chestnut Geitens

Leading experts explain the significance of Prigozhin’s rebellion and what it means for Putin, his regime, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.