Arch Puddington is emeritus scholar at Freedom House. He has written widely on global democracy, and is author of the Freedom House Special Report, Breaking Down Democracy: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians (2017).
Orbán’s Tainted Democracy
A new book on Viktor Orbán reminds us that democracy can be peacefully overthrown by those who loudly assert their democratic bona fides.
Free Press, Regardless
Speaking directly to civilians under a dictatorship has never been harder–but Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is on it. Arch Puddington on how the network is reaching oppressed audiences today.
Press Freedom for Freedom's Adversaries?
American media outlets are offering a bullhorn to regimes that repress democracy and press freedom at home.
Spin Dictators
These aren’t your great-grandparent’s dictators. Arch Puddington reviews a new account of modern authoritarianism by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman.
Orbán’s China Infatuation
Why is the nat cons’ champion of Christian values playing footsie with the long-term persecutors of religion in the Chinese Communist Party?
Toxic Times
In The Shattering, Kevin Boyle aims to lay out a straightforward narrative of the chaotic Sixties. He leaves key questions unanswered.
Remembering Bayard Rustin
We need him—and his commitment to nonviolence and integration—more than ever.
History: The Dictator’s Plaything
More and more Americans are catching on to what dictators have always understood—the importance of controlling the historical narrative.
