Foreign Affairs committee  I'll try to be quick. When you have political parties that are not committed to democratic rules and to truth, and so on, in a political system there are no easy answers. They pose a series of dilemmas. Do you crack down on them? Do you treat them as illegitimate, but then run t

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I don't think you're interested in eliminating forbearance. You want to support forbearance.

Foreign Affairs committee  Forbearance is an unwritten rule. It's about showing self-restraint. All political entities require unwritten rules. Parliaments, countries as a whole, any organization require self-limits on power. One of the things that drives the elimination of forbearance in our mind is polar

Foreign Affairs committee  The May elections are absolutely critical, and I think people are downplaying the potential threat. The estimates are that they'll gain 170 or so seats of a parliament that has over 500 members. Some say that's not a big deal, but I think it is a big deal. The parliament as it ha

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. This move left these issues salient in voters' minds, and when the centre-right failed to deliver, the appeals of the populist right only grew. To conclude, on the eastern edges of post-communist Europe, democracy is vulnerable. In the core of western Europe, the sky migh

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for allowing me to have the chance to speak to you today. I'm sorry I can't be there in person. Is liberal democracy in crisis in Europe? I want to begin today with two facts. As we all know, social scientists tend to disagree on a lot of things, but there are two pret