ABSTRACT This study examines how different forms of polarisation shape political corruption through a comparative case study of Hungary and Turkey between 2000 and 2022. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data sources, the analysis traces four theorised mechanisms linking elite and mass polarisation to political corruption. Findings indicate that elite ideological polarisation can modestly deter corruption, but mass polarisation undermines accountability and thereby facilitates corrupt practices. Crucially, these effects appear to be conditional on regime context: the anti-corruption effects of elite polarisation are only observed during relatively democratic periods, while the corruption-enhancing effects of mass polarisation intensify as democratic institutions erode.

ABSTRACT Are democratic institutions under threat in the United States? We examine an understudied democratic bedrock: the judiciary and, in particular, the U.S. Supreme Court. We draw on data from “SCOTUSapp,” a tool that provides a database of 100,000+ news articles across thousands of unexamined sources. We find a new media environment where the Court receives attention from thousands of ideologically fragmented outlets. Additionally, some framings of the Court are potentially corrosive. We then use two experiments to examine the effects of these corrosive news frames. The first experiment (October 2021) provides evidence that frames portraying the Court as embroiled in secrecy, hypocrisy, illegitimacy, and politics cause a decrease in support for judicial independence. These frames are influential among Republicans and Democrats. The second experiment (May 2023) follows Dobbs, which severely damaged judicial faith among Democrats, and shows that corrosive frames lead to a corresponding decline only among strong Republicans.

ABSTRACT Almost two decades into the current wave of autocratisation, regime scholars have been turning their attention to the potential for democracies to resist mounting authoritarian pressures and for democratic norms and institution to be restored after a period of decline. This article proposes a way of putting order into this emergent, and as yet fragmented, wave of scholarship on democratic resilience and re-democratisation. It advances three key readings – normative, temporal, and geographical – that help us identify the distinguishing features of the contemporary struggle for democracy in the age of autocratisation, and open crucial avenues for future research.

This study examines the interrelationship between democratic governance, human security, and sustainable development in Nigeria within the context of the Fourth Republic from 1999 to 2025. Although Nigeria has sustained uninterrupted democratic rule since 1999, the country continues to experience widespread insecurity, institutional fragility, corruption, poverty, unemployment, and uneven development. The study argues that democratic consolidation cannot be measured solely through periodic elections and civilian transitions but through the effectiveness of institutions in guaranteeing security, accountability, social welfare, and inclusive development. Anchored on Social Contract Theory and Human Security Theory, the study adopts a qualitative research design based on documentary analysis of secondary data obtained from scholarly literature, policy reports, international development indicators, and government publications. The findings reveal that governance deficits, weak institutional capacity, corruption, youth unemployment, and socio-economic inequality have contributed significantly to the persistence of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmer–herder conflicts, and communal violence in Nigeria. In turn, insecurity undermines economic growth, discourages investment, disrupts education and healthcare delivery, and weakens citizens’ trust in democratic institutions. The study concludes that sustainable development in Nigeria depends on strengthening democratic governance, improving human security, enhancing institutional accountability, and implementing inclusive socio-economic policies. The study recommends comprehensive institutional reforms, security sector modernization, community-based security approaches, youth empowerment, and strengthened anti-corruption mechanisms as pathways toward democratic consolidation and sustainable development in Nigeria.

Organised crime in Latin America and the Caribbean now functions as criminal governance. Robert Muggah argues that it is reshaping democracy through coercion, suppression and substitution. Political responses increasingly favour aggressive mano dura (iron fist) tactics, often backed by the US. These approaches risk weakening public security and democratic institutions. Effective solutions require rebuilding police, judicial and prison systems, while protecting local democracy and rule-based security.

ABSTRACT Foreign electoral interference poses a critical challenge to democratic states, and Canada is no exception. The growing scale and sophistication of such interference have increasingly undermined public confidence in the democratic process. Recent election-related controversies have prompted the Canadian government to reassess the nature and extent of foreign electoral interference, as well as its implications for public trust in democratic institutions and the preservation of national sovereignty. Drawing on diverse bodies of literature, this paper examines how the Canadian government has addressed foreign electoral interference and sought to protect and advance its national interests. It focuses on the experiences of the Chinese Canadian community in federal elections, primarily from 2019 to the present, and considers the lessons that may be drawn for other democratic states. Policy recommendations are also discussed.

ABSTRACT The article examines the characteristics of the Eurosceptic European citizen, utilising data from rounds 8, 9 and 10 of the European Social Survey. The dependent variables employed are the responses to two questions in the survey: the direction of the vote in a hypothetical consultation on the permanence of their country in the European Union and the satisfaction with the depth of the European integration project. The independent variables are a wide range of socio-economic variables, opinions, beliefs and perceptions. The results indicate that the ‘perfect’ Eurosceptic would be a middle-aged male residing in a rural environment, experiencing economic hardship, lacking higher education, religious, attached to his own country, abstaining from voting and, when he does vote, casting his ballot for right-wing parties, who would exhibit low confidence in the legal system within his country, dissatisfied with the economic situation and with the functioning of domestic democratic institutions, and who looks askance at immigrants from poorer countries.

ABSTRACT Across contemporary democracies, authoritarian populism is increasingly operating through media systems that combine traditional and digital platforms, yet research is failing to pay sufficient attention to how control is reconfigured under digital conditions. This study asks how authoritarian populists deploy a shared authoritarian playbook – a repertoire of legal, economic, institutional and discursive strategies – to appropriate media while preserving the appearance of democratic institutions. Drawing on authoritarian populism and emphasis on its ideological core, media capture is conceptualised as both a mode of governance and a process of ideological normalisation. The analysis shows how interventions in media ownership, regulation and public broadcasting are reinforced through online harassment and coordinated practices of delegitimisation. A comparative analysis of Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary focuses on these dynamics within Central and Eastern Europe, revealing shared patterns and variation in the deployment of the authoritarian playbook. In Hungary, Orbán centralised media under pro-government control and reinforced this through systematic online harassment; in Slovenia, Janša defunded critical outlets, expanded biased media and pursued digital delegitimisation; and in Croatia, media capture operates through clientelism, regulatory interference and online attacks. Together, these cases show how authoritarian populists consolidate and normalise control across hybrid media.

Abstract Combating communicable diseases produces public goods, and public health institutions play a crucial role when transaction costs are high. Over the past decade, populism has surged globally, shaping public attitudes toward these institutions. Rooted in anti-elitism and a Manichean worldview that divides society into “the good people” and “the corrupt elites,” populists often target individuals while undermining the institutions that constrain them. Using data from the 2020 American National Election Studies, this study examines how individual-level populist attitudes are associated with views of democratic institutions, public health institutions and officials, and COVID-19 related policies in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show that populist attitudes are associated with opposition to democratic institutions for checks and balances, support for unconstrained executive authority, lower trust in both the federal government and people in general, negative perceptions of public health organizations and officials, including the CDC, the WHO, Dr. Fauci, and scientists, and opposition to expert-recommended pandemic policies, even when for anti-intellectualism, party identification, liberal–conservative ideology, education, race, sex, and income. By contrast, although more educated respondents also express skepticism toward the federal government and negative perceptions of the CDC and the WHO, they tend to show higher levels of interpersonal trust and stronger support for democratic institutions as well as checks and balances. This contrast suggests that skepticism toward government does not necessarily entail targeting individual actors or opposing the universalistic institutional constraints that sustain democratic governance.

ABSTRACT This study analyses the relationship between political regimes and income inequality in South Africa over the period 1965 to 2019, with particular emphasis on the apartheid era and the democratic period. Employing Bayesian vector autoregression and Bayesian Generalized Method of Moments techniques, the study accounts for dense parameterisation, heterogeneity, and complex institutional dynamics affecting income distribution. The findings indicate that South Africa continues to experience persistent income inequality rooted in deeply entrenched racialised socio-economic structures, despite the transition to democracy. Political regimes are shown to shape income outcomes through institutional design, governance quality, and policy orientation. The study argues that addressing inequality requires a comprehensive and coordinated policy framework centred on strengthening democratic institutions, accountability mechanisms, and leadership transparency. Redistributive and desegregation strategies, including land redistribution, remain critical for correcting historical injustices and enabling inclusive economic participation. Complementary interventions such as skills development, education investment, progressive taxation, entrepreneurship support in marginalised regions, economic diversification, and the removal of structural barriers to social mobility are essential to promote inclusive growth, employment creation, and long-term socio-economic equity.

Users are increasingly relying on Large Language Models (LLMs) for political questions, seeking advice and interpreting public debates. This raises a key concern: do LLMs behave as neutral tools, or do they adapt to users' ideology and reinforce existing polarization? We address this question within the Brazilian context using a new benchmark that probes ideological chameleon behavior in 21 LLMs. We construct opposing pairs of political statements on salient topics (e.g., welfare, security, democratic institutions, environment, and others) and elicit model judgments under three user-position conditions: no context, left-aligned, and right-aligned. To avoid imposing our own ideological taxonomy, we apply a cross-model voting step using independent-judge models and retain only those pairs that are unanimously classified as left versus right. In total, we analyze 47,376 Likert-style responses across models, topics, and hyperparameters (e.g., temperature). We focus on the relative ideological shift induced by user framing. We find that all 21 evaluated models exhibit ideological chameleon behavior to varying degrees. When conditioned by users' declared leanings, they systematically adjust their stance to align with those views, indicating widespread sycophantic tendencies. These results suggest that many LLMs may function as personalized echo chambers under user framing, with implications for political microtargeting, persuasion, and the governance of AI systems in polarized societies.

The Indian economy is the fastest-growing economy globally, driven by its strengths in its workforce, democratic institutions, and information and communication technology (ICT) sector. The Government of India aims to achieve” Viksit Bharat by 2047. From a developmental perspective, public policy is an essential tool for mobilizing financial resources and strengthening governmental systems. Economic studies consistently demonstrate that developed nations possess robust public policies. Through public policy, governments provide incentives to motivate and involve citizens in the development process. The government must prioritize implementing unbiased policies. This study examines how governments can effectively promote economic preferences and establish rational priorities to enhance productivity via public policies. Indian financial institutions play a crucial role in mobilizing resources from consumption to investment and from urban to rural areas, thereby contributing to accelerated economic growth. Data indicate that public policy interventions have stimulated economic activity, particularly within the finance and banking sectors. This study evaluates specific public policies and schemes to understand their role in fostering the formation and financialization of the Indian economy. India possesses significant potential to become a Viksit Bharat, but rational policy design and clear priorities are essential to enhance productivity and shift the prevailing mindset.

ABSTRACT This study examines the economic, institutional and geopolitical determinants of defence spending using a global cross-country panel. By integrating institutional quality indicators and fiscal consolidation variables into a standard defence demand framework and applying panel estimation techniques that account for heterogeneity across countries and spending levels, the analysis moves beyond conventional regime classifications to assess how political accountability affects defence budgeting behaviour. As a central result, economic capacity is the most consistent driver of military spending across countries, with higher-income countries systematically allocating more resources to defence. Fiscal rules, however, operate unevenly across political systems: they are associated with more constrained defence spending in democratic contexts but appear less effective in autocratic settings, where improvements in fiscal conditions are more likely to translate into higher military expenditure. In addition, the relationship between geopolitical risk and military spending is strongly dependent on institutional context. Democratic institutions tend to buffer the fiscal response to external threats, whereas in less accountable political systems geopolitical pressures are more readily reflected in higher defence spending. Overall, the findings suggest that institutional heterogeneity is a central explanatory dimension in understanding how countries respond to economic resources and security risks.

ABSTRACT South Asia, long regarded as a region of resilient democratic norms and institutions is witnessing a steady erosion of these democratic norms. This article offers a comparative review of five countries – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka – examining how democratic backsliding is unfolding across different political systems, while incorporating recent electoral developments in Bangladesh and Nepal. Drawing on recent political developments, election trends and international assessments, the article highlights how elected governments are reshaping political systems by weakening institutional checks, curtailing dissent and centralising authority – often under the guise of popular mandates. While each country follows a distinct trajectory, common trends include growing authoritarianism, politicised nationalism and suppression of dissent. The article also reflects on the broader implications of this regression for regional cooperation, political stability and South Asia’s democratic future.

ABSTRACT This article challenges contemporary Kantian arguments for universal basic income (UBI) by reinterpreting Kant's political philosophy through the lens of political realism. Current defences of UBI from a Kantian perspective often rely on an idealist reading that overlooks the practical realities of state power and global politics. I argue that Kant is better understood as a ‘transcendental political realist’ who saw a republican state, defined by the separation of powers, as the necessary precondition for any moral society. From this realist viewpoint, politics is not simply applied ethics; rather, a just political structure is the autonomous foundation upon which ethical life can be built. Applying this framework, the article finds UBI to be a problematic solution to economic dependence. In the current global landscape, UBI risks creating a new form of state domination, undermining the core Kantian value of civic independence. The article concludes that a truly Kantian approach prioritises the establishment of robust republican institutions that empower citizens to become their ‘own masters’, achieving independence through a just system of labour, not through state provision.

ABSTRACT In this forum, we examine the progression of authoritarian governance in Bangladesh, tracing its origins from the nation’s liberation in 1971 to the Hasina regime’s collapse in August 2024. Drawing from historical accounts and analysis of contemporary sources, we interrogate how Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s nationalist movement, pivotal in the struggle for independence, simultaneously laid the foundations for centralised control and authoritarianism. The consolidation of power became a defining feature of Mujib’s leadership and that of his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, as her government increasingly reflected her father’s approach, resulting in political repression and the erosion of democratic institutions. We argue that the intergenerational transmission of power, intertwined with broader geopolitical shifts, reflects the complex dynamics of post-colonial state-building, where the legacies of liberation movements are often entangled with authoritarian governance. By contextualising these developments within South Asia and foregrounding our approach in subaltern geopolitics, we unveil the intersections of nationalism, leadership, and authoritarianism, contributing to broader discussions on state violence, power, and resistance on a regional scale. The regime’s collapse in 2024 marks a revolutionary moment of reflection on the cyclical patterns of power and governance in Bangladesh’s political history; another liberation emerged from resistance, and a new generation mirrored the call for independence.

ABSTRACT This study examines the divergent transitional trajectories of Ukraine and Russia over recent decades using expanded version of the triple transition framework. Drawing on statistical and graphical analyses of multiple indicators, the study documents a widening gap between the two countries: Ukraine has strengthened democratic institutions, diversified its economy, and embraced a civic national identity, whereas Russia has consolidated authoritarianism, deepened resource dependence and an imperial ideology. Despite cultural closeness and similar starting conditions shaped by communist rule, the two societies have evolved in different directions, with divergence most pronounced in political institutions and societal values. Although the study does not directly test causal hypotheses, it contributes to identifying plausible developmental determinants underlying these contrasting trajectories. The findings suggest that the Russian invasion of Ukraine should be understood not as a conflict between two similar transitional states but as an assault by an imperialist rentier dictatorship on an emerging democracy.

Abstract: Political polarization poses significant challenges to democratic institutions worldwide. This paper examines the causes and consequences of political polarization, focusing on its impact on democratic governance. Polarization leads to legislative gridlock, governmental dysfunction, and a decline in trust in democratic processes and institutions. It intensifies partisanship, fosters media fragmentation, and undermines democratic norms such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. This abstract highlight the urgent need for strategies to address polarization, including promoting dialogue, fostering empathy, strengthening institutions, and cultivating a more inclusive political culture. Addressing polarization is essential for safeguarding democratic values and ensuring the effective functioning of democratic institutions in the face of growing ideological divides.

This article explores the implications of unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) for democracy and the rule of law in Africa from a human rights perspective. It critically examines how UCGs erode democratic institutions, undermine the rule of law, and facilitate human rights violations by weakening accountability mechanisms and suppressing political dissent. Drawing on case studies of Mali, Guinea, Sudan, and Chad, the article highlights the socio-political dynamics and institutional fragilities that enabled military takeovers or extra-constitutional successions, as well as the domestic and regional responses to these crises. The analysis reveals that UCGs often result in transitional regimes that lack legitimacy, perpetuate repression, and deepen civic disenfranchisement. The article argues that safeguarding democracy and the rule of law in Africa requires sustained commitment to constitutional order, proactive regional intervention, and the protection of human rights as foundational pillars of governance. It concludes with recommendations aimed at preventing UCGs and mitigating their impact, including strengthening constitutional safeguards, bolstering regional normative frameworks such as the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and enhancing the role of regional bodies such as the African Union in enforcing anti-coup norms.

Corruption is a serious issue that hinders economic growth and political stability, particularly in developing countries like Indonesia. Widespread corruption not only causes financial losses to the state but also degrades the quality of public services, weakens democratic institutions, and erodes public trust in the government. This study aims to analyze the impact of corruption on economic and political development, and to provide policy recommendations that can help reduce corruption systematically. The research offers academic value as a scientific reference and practical relevance for policymakers and the public in formulating effective anti-corruption strategies. A descriptive qualitative method is used with a literature study approach, based on reports from anti-corruption agencies, scholarly journals, official statistics, and policy documents. The findings reveal that corruption reduces budget efficiency, discourages investment, and worsens the quality of infrastructure and public services. Politically, corruption weakens democracy, lowers public participation, and increases the risk of governmental instability. Therefore, combating corruption is a crucial step in achieving sustainable development and ensuring a transparent and accountable government.