History shows that for the world’s autocrats, some control over the media is never enough—and COVID-19 offers dangerous new pretexts for consolidating their power.

Part of what made Polish independence possible was an international commitment to democratic norms. Today, that commitment is in serious doubt.

Modern autocrats are less prone to violence and overt repression than their totalitarian predecessors—but that only makes the threat they pose all the more insidious.

Today’s authoritarians are just as threatened by pluralism and dissenting ideas as the single-party states that preceded them.

The findings of Freedom House’s Nations in Transit report point to Russia’s role as model and enabler for Eurasia’s autocracies.

The United States needs to step up its aid to Ukraine, and impose more sanctions on Putin’s regime—and it needs to do so with or without Europe.

Vladimir Putin considers stable, prosperous, rule-of-law democracies along Russia’s border as a threat because of what they represent: the possibility of an alternative to autocratic rule in Russia.