Publications
LGBTQ IN TURKMENISTAN: A NEVER-ENDING TRAP
GEORGIAN POLITICS AND THE LACK OF FREEDOM: FROM ONE COSMETIC CHANGE TO THE NEXT
The current Georgian president, Salome Zurabishvili, continues the politics of the predecessor Georgi Margvelashvili and his Georgian Dream Party. According to Bloomberg, she was elected to continue the policies of the old guard, after a rancorous vote that triggered allegations of election fraud from the losing candidate...
It leads to the conclusion that the political situation will not change in Georgia and the current president and her government has no intention of changing the authorities’ attitude toward those who were mistreated before the new elections in November 2018. In fact, the regime has many tools to shut the opponents up. The entire state apparatus is designed to protect the interests of the government and is managed by corrupt politicians. Those who raise their voices are dismissed from their positions, harassed by police and put in prisons without due process. The regime sees a threat in any voice of criticism and any leak of information. It showed its brutal nature in the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations and in cases of those who criticized the government from inside, confirming the fact that the government in Georgia remains repressive, corrupt and authoritarian.
POLITICAL SITUATION IN ARMENIA
Igor Kotler, President and Executive Director of the Museum of Human Rights, Freedom, and Tolerance, Visiting Senior Research Fellow and Head of the US-Russia-Former Soviet Union Dialogue Project at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at the Rutgers University (USA).
Zelensky struggles to contain Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Problem
Militiamen of Ukraine's nationalist movement are espousing white supremacist views. This is one of the challenges Ukrainian President Zelensky is facing.
Putin’s Amendments To Russia’s Constitution Sparks Debate About Russian Nationalism
Amendments expanding Putin's power and language about the "state-forming role" of the Russian national majority, raises ethno-nationalism concerns.
AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNANCE AND OPPOSITION DYNAMICS IN AZERBAIJAN DURING THE 2020S
Since gaining independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has been governed through an authoritarian framework predominantly shaped by the enduring dominance of the Aliyev family. Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB general and senior Communist Party official, consolidated his hold on power in the early post-Soviet years. Following his death in 2003, his son Ilham Aliyev assumed the presidency and has since maintained an extensive and centralized system of political control over the country’s institutions, media landscape, and security apparatus.
Belarusian Dictatorship: Unending Drama
Located in the center of Europe, Belarus is considered an outlier of the civilized world because President Alexander Lukashenko’s political regime. Sadly, this is not the first time this county finds itself in a tight grip of dictatorship. Belarus actually has the highest ratio in the world of the number of years under dictatorship or foreign invasion to the number of years of its total existence.
KYRGYZSTAN: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Dr. Kotler presents an article on the political development of Kyrgyzstan, a small state in Central Asia that was previously part of the USSR. Talking about the history of the formation of this state and its political system, Igor Kotler dwells in detail on the issue of respect for human rights in this country.
TRAPPED AND TARGETED: THE REALITY FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE IN RUSSIA
Russia has a long history of institutionalized homophobia. Under the Soviet regime, homosexuality was criminalized and used as a tool to persecute both LGBTQ individuals and political opponents, removing them from society and placing them in prisons and labor camps under fabricated, "shameful" charges.
Europe is caught in a Wheel of Xenophobia
The assimilation policy of integration, actively practiced across Europe, is one of the main prerequisites of Xenophobia.
UZBEKISTAN AFTER KARIMOV: NO PROGRESS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
After the death of President Islam Karimov in 2016, there was cautious optimism that Uzbekistan might embark on a path toward greater human rights protections and democratic reforms.However, under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the country has remained one of the most authoritarian regimes in the post-Soviet region.
Can Multiculturalism Triumph in Europe?
Is it possible to achieve a triumph of multiculturalism and social cohesion in democratic societies?
Xenophobia, Radical Nationalism and Hate Speech in 2017-18 in Ukraine
Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management UIAMP), is today one of the most sought-after political scientists and experts in Ukraine. This report on Xenophobia and Radicalism in this country was prepared by him in partnership with the expert UIAMP Maxim Semenov in the framework of the European program of the European Center for Tolerance, CMCA and IIMO on the study of tolerance in Europe.
XENOPHOBIA AND RADICALISM IN RUSSIA, 2017-18. WHAT CHANGED?
In 2017 – first half of 2018, there were significant changes in Russia both in the sphere of countering xenophobia and radicalism and in the trends related to the spread of xenophobic attitudes and the dynamics of hate crimes.
FRANCE. XENOPHIBIA AND RADICALISM, 2017.
The Report of Dr. Jean-Yves Camus, famous political analyst and the Associate Research Fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), was made under the Program of the European Tolerance Center "Xenophobia, Radicalism and Hate Crime in Europe, 2017" . In this Report Dr. Camus considers various aspects of tolerance problems in France in 2017.
Report "Xenophobia and Radicalism in the UK (2017)"
Professor Matthew Feldman and Dr. William Allchorn are the creators and leaders of the new Center for the Analysis of Radical Right, (London) and the leading experts in the field of right-wing radicalism in Europe. They prepared a Report on Xenophobia and Radicalism in Britain in the framework of the project "Xenophobia, Radicalism and Hate Crimes in Europe", which has been implemented for three years by the European Center for Democracy Development (Riga) together with European Tolerance Center.
Why Russia Wants To Be An Empire Again
Why modern Russia seeks again to select an authoritarian way for development? What prospects await her in the near future? Are there any prospects for Russian right-wing radicals? The author of the article answers these questions.
POLITICAL AUTHORITY, AUTHORITARIAN CONSOLIDATION, AND THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN AND ETHNIC MINORITY RIGHTS IN TURKMENISTAN
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan developed into an authoritarian state whose political ideology openly promoted the superiority of ethnic Turkmens over non-Turkmen communities. From the earliest years of independence, the authorities placed up to a quarter of the population, composed of ethnic minorities, in a subordinate and marginalized position. The 1991 Constitution, which formally declared independence in the name of securing Turkmen statehood, was accompanied in practice by the gradual erosion of protections for minorities and by policies that reinforced exclusion and discrimination. The situation of non-Turkmens and non-Muslims worsened significantly as they faced systemic obstacles ranging from employment restrictions to outright persecution.
CONTINUITY AND CONSOLIDATION OF AUTHORITARIAN RULE IN BELARUS: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN 2024–2025
In 2024 to 2025, Belarus exhibits the characteristics of a consolidated authoritarian system in which executive dominance is underwritten by a fully synchronized coercive and administrative apparatus. The post 2020 cycle of contentious politics has yielded a restructuring of the public sphere through legal restriction, institutional cooptation, and routinized repression. Core state organs, including the security services, prosecutorial bodies, courts, and state aligned media, operate in mutually reinforcing fashion to deter mobilization and narrow the boundaries of permissible expression. The result is a governance environment defined by rule by law rather than rule of law, limited associational autonomy, and a persistent chilling effect that substitutes compliance for participation and conformity for deliberation.
Report on Xenophobia, Racism & Rise of the Far-Right in ITALY, 2017
Dr. Anna Castriota is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences, University of Northampton , United Kingdom. She is a lecturer in Politics and Terrorism at St Clare's College, Liberal Arts Programme (Oxford). Dr. Castriota is completing her second PhD in Political History at Northampton University. Her research interests includes Social Sciences. She is serving as an editorial member and reviewer of several international reputed journals. Dr. Anna Castriota is the member of many international affiliations. She has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities and has authored of many research articles/books related to Social Sciences. From 2016 Dr. Castriota take part in the European Tolerance Center Program "Xenophobia and Radicalism in Europe". She prepared 3 reports about the Tolerance problems in Italy.
This Report concern the situation of 2017. In this year Italy is experiencing a coalition government made by Lega (League) and Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Stars Movement) which indicates a populist-ultranationalist government. The unusual government’s structure sees a third person-aside of the two leaders of the winnings parties- as theunknown and un-elected academic Prof. Giuseppe Conte, although in matter of fact, it seems that the newly appointed Interior minister Matteo Salvini (Lega party) is effectively acting as prime minister instead. These are still early days and it will be interesting to analyse the socio-political dynamics experienced by the Italians in one year time from now. In 2017, however, Italy has seen a worsening of the public opinion in matter of prejudice, discrimination and xenophobic attitude concerning religious, ethnic minorities and more in general, against any form of diversity from homosexuality to veganism...
