With a contribution from NEOS Lab Senior Researcher Silvia Nadjivan
SILVIA NADJIVAN opens the collection with an analysis of how far-right and far-left movements have evolved into conduits for external powers.
Against the backdrop of financial and political crisis, she shows how “anti-democratic parties collaborate not only with Putin’s Russia but also with China”, forming part of a transnational network of disinformation and corruption. Drawing on Anne Applebaum’s image of “autocracy, inc.,” Nadjivan demonstrates that Russia, China, and other illiberal actors are bound by common methods rather than ideologies. Her conclusion is clear: defending democracy requires not nostalgia but active renewal — investment in civic education, digital literacy, and democratic solidarity.
(Miłosz Hodun, Intro, p. 11)