Donate

Authoritarianism

A gate opened from a tall brick archway on a college campus

Professors fear creeping authoritarianism in academia amid Harvard fallout

The World's Global Classroom

Following the resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay, some professors warn that political encroachment in academia is a sign of the times — and rising authoritarianism. GBH’s Kirk Carapezza reports.

In this March 21, 2011, file photo, a Syrian soldier steps out of the burned courthouse that was set on fire by anti-government protesters in the southern city of Daraa, Syria.

Civil workshopping: Part II

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media during a joint press statement as part of a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, May 2, 2022. 

Democracy, interrupted: Part II

Critical State
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the judicial year at the Supreme Court in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 27, 2022.

Archetypes of autocracy: Part II

Chinese President Xi Jingping speaks during the opening session of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogues at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Monday, June 6, 2016. 

Archetypes of autocracy: Part I

Critical State
A masked man in a suit stands in front of a line of people waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Efficiency over privacy: How trust in the Chinese government helped contain the pandemic

COVID-19

Author Yashu Zhang describes the efficiency of China’s vaccination rollout and why there’s so much trust in authorities in the fight against the coronavirus.

A man walks along a street

‘Putin is obsessed with the idea of legitimacy,’ opposition activist says of ‘sham’ referendum

Leaders

“Vladimir Putin from this day de jure, belongs to the same league of rogue authoritarian regimes as … [Hugo] Chavez in Venezuela, [Blaise] Compaoré in Burkina Faso, [Islam] Karimov in Uzbekistan and many, many others,” opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza told The World. “And this should be said publicly and clearly from the highest rostrum in the Western world.”

A man in a suit stands in front of European flags

Emergency authoritarianism? Hungary’s Orbán uses coronavirus to seize more power

COVID-19

Hungary’s government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has granted itself sweeping powers under the auspices of the coronavirus pandemic. But critics warn it is hastening Hungary’s authoritarian decline.

A police officer talks to a woman and child, all in face masks, outside a hotel

How ‘war’ with coronavirus could lead to lasting government overreach

COVID-19

Under war-like circumstances, history shows there is a very fine line between protecting citizens and eroding rights — and that line can be exploited or extended in times of great uncertainty. 

Protesters wa;l through the streets of a city carrying Russian flags and large signs written in Russian.

Laws are chipping away at democracy around the world

Global Politics

New research shows how recent laws have slowly eroded the role of nongovernmental agencies all over the world . Experts have said that these actions threaten democracy in countries where institutions have already become weak. See where and how laws like these have had their biggest impact.