The Tufts Daily

Russia’s behavior is nothing new. For the past two decades, Putin has worked to consolidate power by crushing the opposition. Currently, Russian opposition leader Navalny’s health is deteriorating in prison and his doctor stated that he “could die at any moment.” Through state-sponsored terror, Putin and his allies have attacked dissidents and worked to silence a free press. 

Democracy doesn’t mean oppression is gone. Democracy isn’t justice. Democracies still experience many of the same systemic issues as authoritarian states; in fact, most are built on it. Few, if any, democracies were founded in an equitable fashion. Few are truly equitable today.

Perhaps these efforts put forth by Republican state legislatures will not limit Democratic turnout — though their redistricting efforts will certainly reward Republicans with more seats in the House. Yet the principle driving these bills must be feared. Democracies require tolerance for the opposition. This has clearly died. What is holding U.S. democracy on its last leg is forbearance. 

Thus began the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s major infrastructure project to reroute global trade through China in the hopes of becoming the world’s new superpower. In this project, China provides loans to fund the creation of new infrastructure — deep water ports, high-speed rail systems, bridges, highways, pipelines and fiber-optic networks — in countries throughout the Global South. The project spans three continents and touches over 60% of the world’s population. 

Since 2010, post-Communist Hungary has been Exhibit A in the annals of democratic backsliding into competitive authoritarianism. A facade of democracy has been erected in Hungary, masking a repressive and illiberal government, which has subsequently spread to other countries in the region.

Fascism is characterized by uber-nationalism, anti-democratic ideals, the use of violence as both a means and an end and skepticism toward capitalism. Trump checks the first two boxes and dabbles in the third. But to assert that he is suspicious of capitalism would be a grotesque fallacy. 

Two pieces of legislation needed to maintain U.S. democracy face grim fates in the Senate: the For the People Act (H.R.1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  H.R.1 was passed in the House on Wednesday, March 3, and it is likely the greatest overhaul of U.S. election law in the past half-century. The […]

Our electoral system is set up for a two-party democracy. Formation of a new center-right party would never work — in fact, it would solidify the rule of the Democratic Party. As a believer in democracy, I offer the following advice to Republicans across the aisle to save their party and maintain U.S. democracy.

Throughout his presidency, complicit Republicans who chose to aid and abet Trump in his abuse of power made it clear that political gains and the maintenance of their party’s power mattered more to them than the rule of law — the foundation of democracies.