Democracy

Despite the poignant victory of Fidesz: The elections showed losses for all parties. Juhász Attila, analyst at Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute, explains why.

We cordially invite you to the 18th Forum 2000 Conference: Democracy and Its Discontents - A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen

We cordially invite you to the international conference titled "1989 Thinking Revolution in East-Central Europe", taking place 2-3 October 2014 in Villa Lanna, Prague (V sadech 1, Praha 6).

“This time it’s different!” announced a major mobilisation campaign by the European Parliament (EP). What was new about the elections to the European Union’s only directly elected institution were changes brought to the EP by the Lisbon Treaty – more competencies, but in particular a closer connection between the decision of European voters and filling the position of head of the European executive. The slogan “This time it’s different!” foreshadowed greater interest and thus also greater voter participation.

As the second decade of this new millennium pushes toward its completion, it may come as a surprise to readers to learn that the sterilization of women without their consent remains a persistent problem for public health systems worldwide. Recent efforts in Europe to address these abuses have revealed how public health administrators and justice systems have yet to learn the lessons of these abuses.

It is 25 March 2014, four days before the second round of Slovakia’s presidential election. The country is flooded with black-and-white billboards featuring a quote of civic candidate Andrej Kiska’s affirmative response to a question posed by the daily SME: “Are you for registered partnerships for homosexuals?” The billboards were part of a negative campaign against Kiska. The opposing candidate, Prime Minister Robert Fico, chairman of the Direction-Social Democracy party (Smer-SD), has consistently opposed such partnerships – which he has stressed repeatedly in televised debates.