Ken Godfrey

The EU should not become a democracy 'hedgehog' The 'hedgehog' approach of mainly trying to shield the EU against authoritarian influences from abroad also falls short because many authoritarian influences come from within. A hedgehog is no match f...

The EU is becoming very defensive on democracy (as in "democracy shield"). @kenlcg.bsky.social and I argue that it is not good enough. euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...

I was on the Euronews talkshow this wkend to talk about democratic politics in Europe, Gaza and Ukraine

Nice format, heavy topics and good company. Thanks to @euronews.com for the invite

A New European Shield for Democracy: How to Make it Work?

🛡️The new European Democracy Shield (EDS) is being prepared by the European Commission and will cover the EU’s key work in supporting #democracy.

📌 How can it effectively protect and boost democracy? With 49 organisations, EPD has laid out the priorities and recommendations for an effective EDS. 🧵

Most discussion about the societal impacts of digital media focuses on the rise of smartphones and social media. But the change in human capacity for focused thought coincides with something more fundamental: a shift in our relationship with information ↘️

With the news that most USAID grants are now canceled, here is something we wrote with my former colleague Sarah Repucci on the impact & some ways Europe could step up:

Great stuff

Excellent to see this plotted on a chart. Where is it from?

🎙️The launch of our 4th European Democracy Support Annual Review is starting right now.

@epd.eu's Executive Director @kenlcg.bsky.social sets the stage for the discussion and welcomes our speakers and participants.

@poland25eu.bsky.social @carnegieeurope.bsky.social

It could be. The article is interesting- DMA provides some other tools too - but the headline barks louder than the content 😜

🎉 Launch event
Join us in Brussels to celebrate the launch of the review!

🗓️ Tuesday, 11 February 2025
⏲️ 09:00 - 12:00 (CET)
📍 Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels, Belgium

Register 👉 forms.gle/s5B4n2zQjnPk...

📚 The 4th edition of the European Democracy Support Annual Review is out!

▪️How did European democracy policies evolve in 2024?
▪️What were the EU’s best and worst moves for democracy?

Read now 🔗 carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

- "citizens of democracies have long prized their own well-being and values over the defence of democratic procedures"
- The biggest vulnerability for democracy is leadership by non-democrats

- culture wars are driving much of our politics rather than economic grievances: hence why the left has struggled to respond
- extremist parties depend on allies in the centre: hence why coalitions with the far-right are fueling their rise 2/3

The populist phantom • Inside Story Democracy erodes from the top

This is a great article. Lays out a plethora of evidence for things I have been thinking in recent years

"The increasingly unrestrained struggle for power among elites, not populism, represents the greatest threat to democracy" 1/3

insidestory.org.au/the-populist...

#Georgia is one of many countries where robust citizen #protests belie the global storyline of autocratization. Richard Youngs and I unpack the source of #Georgia’s democratic #resilience in our recent article for @JoDemocracy 👉 www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

What Does the ‘Year of Elections’ Tell Us About Democracy? - European Democracy Hub The European Democracy Hub asked experts on democracy to reflect on the pivotal year of elections and its impact on democratic politics.

New article reviewing elections from 2024 ⬇️

Thanks to all the contributors @elenepanchulidze.bsky.social @patrickcostello.bsky.social, Christian Leffler, Francisco Alfaro Pareja, Ravio Patra, Sanje Vignaraja, Lukasz Kondraciuk and Adam Busuleanu

europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu/what-does-th...

And ironically the spelling is French….Canadiens

Really?!? My X was full of them….

📚☃️Your winter break reading list featuring our best articles from 2024:

🧵

The most revealing element is the veto on senior appointments which is clearly not something that should be allowed and should be stopped. Otherwise I think OCCRPs work speaks for itself

Events in South Korea are part of a wider phenomenon of political entrepreneurs stretching what is possible/permissible in political systems. How can I centralise power more? President Yoon went full throttle vs imo more dangerous ‘thousand cuts’ approach. Very impressive reaction from opposition

Democracy Organisations and Experts Join the conversation

Welcome to #Bluesky!

Big thank you to everyone who followed us. We truly appreciate the support!

Here's a little token of gratitude 🎁 👀

We created a starter pack featuring old and new accounts of democracy-support organisations and experts.

Follow them all in one click! 👇

A fundamental conversation for #Democracy from an European perspective convened by the European Democracy Hub, a joint initiative of Carnegie Europe and the European Partnership for Democracy. Welcome words by @kenlcg.bsky.social
More information: europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu/an-updated-d...

Meloni’s dangerous constitutional change in Italy The Italian prime minister’s calculation isn’t hard to understand — her party has a comfortable lead in the polls, but it’s far from an overwhelming majority.

My piece with Nino Tsereteli on #Meloni's dangerous constitutional reform plans. An attack on the separation of powers. #Italy

Dutch Rule of Law Alert: Why Dutch Constitutional Culture Is not Prepared for Geert Wilders' Shock E... It is never a good sign when Viktor Orbán celebrates the election results of another country. Last Wednesday was one of those days. For the first time in the history of Dutch politics, a far-right pa...

Is the Dutch constitutional culture prepared for Geert Wilders’ electoral win?

NIELS GRAAF worries about a potential move to the anti-liberal far right, especially because of two flaws in the Dutch constitutional system.

verfassungsblog.de/dutch-rule-o...

Now there's a surprise

Interesting read

Most of the world's biggest advertisers have stopped buying ads on Elon Musk's X, exclusive new data... Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have recently stated that most of the company's top-spending advertisers from last year have returned.

Most of the world's biggest advertisers have stopped buying ads on Elon Musk's X, new data shows

Ebiquity works with 70 of the world's top 100 advertisers

Just 2 of those advertised on X last month

"This is a drop we have not seen before for any major ad platform" said Ebiquity

I am not sure citizens will care so much. The key is more whether any other country would back up HU. It’s back on the agenda at least but v tricky

Is this place where hope lives online?