Democracy

A controversial national security law for Hong Kong is set to take effect, as pro-democracy advocates warn of eroding freedoms in the semi-autonomous region. New reports say US President Donald Trump was briefed in February about suspected Russian bounties on US soldiers, contradicting the president’s claims. An Iranian journalist has been sentenced to death. An Australian inquiry shows koalas in NSW could become extinct by 2050.

Could the US become a so-called “competitive authoritarian regime” which only bears the “outer look of democracy?”

At the suggestion of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, many anti-Putin voters decided to vote for anyone other than a candidate from Vladimir Putin’s party — even candidates that voters might otherwise find distasteful — in Russia’s municipal elections.

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.

These other countries don’t look threatening. They look like democracies. But they’re not.