... interests here tend to overlap with those of the Euro skeptics.
This has become an ideological issue, at least on the EU side. The cause of EU unity against Russia has become a magnet for anti-Russian individuals and institutions throughout the EU. Ideology takes center stage over pragmatism in this issue. Russia’s desire to deal with individual EU members would not appear to threaten any concrete EU interests. It does, however, pose a serious threat to the ideological ambitions of the EU ...
... integration, like border-free travel and a common currency were popular. Europeans were proud of the apparent success of the EU, and this is where “European values” started to become a more important part of the picture. A vague, fluffy European ideology, resting on economic success and the ideal of a united Europe began to emerge.
This European ideology has been primarily a domain for idealists rather than pragmatists. European ideology became increasingly missionary, moralistic, and hypocritical ...
In totalitarian countries . .
The government tortures, kills and suppresses unions and the press.
Whereas in authoritarian countries . .
These functions are left to the private sector.
Jules Feiffer cartoon on statement by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jean Kirkpatrick
In order to judge whether there has been a “rollback of democracy” in Russia, we need to be clear about what is meant by the democratic state of affairs believed to exist before democracy was “rolled back.”...
... of socialism come to power and set up bureaucratic Leviathans, establish tyrannies, adopt policies that lead to economic decline and other social dysfunctions, and in consequence suffer widespread popular hostility against what is supposed to be an ideology of the people?
To be sure, the history of modern socialism is full of examples of socialist thinkers and movements refusing to compromise the democratic, humanitarian, and libertarian ideals they took to belong to the very definition of ...
