Opis
The previous year, 2020, will for sure remain in our memory as the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Yet we also all know that beyond the public health crisis, the region of Central and Eastern Europe continued to confront political challenges as well. Most visibly, this is seen in Belarus. However, the recent elections in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova indicate significant changes too.
These developments have compelled our authors and interviewees to posit the question on the current state and direction of democracy in the region and the world at large. Do they symbolise optimism for a turn away from illiberal practices? Such seems to be the case of Lithuania and Moldova. Or will authoritarian rulers use the illusion of elections to consolidate even greater power – as this year’s Duma elections in Russia will certainly demonstrate.
Contents – Whither Democracy? And what lies ahead…
We need innovation and courage to rejuvenate democracy
An interview with Basil Kerski
Russia in the starting blocks for the 2021 parliamentary election
Maria Domańska
2020’s electoral lessons. Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine
Denis Cenusa
When institutions fail, boycott and street protests remain the only instrument
Anastasia Mgaloblishvili
Lithuanian elections provide new opportunities and women empowerment
Kristina Smolijaninovaitė
When trust in institutions is lacking, we have a problem
An interview with Henrik Müller
What 1989 can (and cannot) teach us
Simona Merkinaite
Opinion and Analysis
The failure in binary thinking about Belarus
Iwona Reichardt and Maxim Rust
Belarus. Fighting for the future or the past?
Wim van Meurs and Olga Morozova
Bulgaria’s veto for North Macedonia’s European hopes spells trouble for the region
Bojan Stojkovski
Turkey, Russia and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Natalia Konarzewska
Far from being over. Injustice, revenge and suffering in Nagorno-Karabakh
Bartłomiej Krzysztan
A renewed focus on Ukraine’s nuclear power sector
Mykola Voytiv
Biden and the East: Implications of a New US Administration
What the incoming Biden administration means for Central and Eastern Europe
George Soroka
Whither US-Ukraine relations during a Biden presidency?
Nadiia Bureiko
Andrei Gromyko congratulates Joe Biden
Kuba Benedyczak
History and Memory
International law and the Soviet wild-goose chase
Grzegorz Szymborski
Art, Culture and Society
Women’s face of the opposition
Yulia Galiamina
An unambiguous legacy. Women and Solidarity
Shana Penn
The shame of Dagestan
Anna Efimova
Stories and Ideas
Why do they stay?
Kevin Le Merle
A prayer for peace in Belarus
Iris Kempe
Critically uncritical. Reforming education in Central and Eastern Europe
Darya Podgoretskaya and Anna Theodoulides
Eastern Café
An exemplary 20th century Eastern European life
Gabriel Paletz
History of facts. Dispassionate and detached
Anastasiia Starchenko
The journey of revisiting 1989
Kinga Anna Gajda
The sword of Damocles and the mirror
Anna Fedas
An underappreciated contribution to European history
Zbigniew Rokita
