The views expressed in the articles are those of each respective author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of the Foreign Policy Centre.
If all politics is local, then it is also personal. I did not become a politician because of some abstract theory. I became a politician because I was free to…
‘Soft power’ is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as ‘the use of a country's cultural and economic influence to persuade other countries to do something, rather than the use…
What differentiates an ‘open society’ What are open societies? The famed camel comes to mind: open societies may be hard to define but they are easy to recognise. Given the…
Why does it matter It matters who we elect to lead our communities and our country. Their values and priorities shape our future. If all of those leaders have the…
The rationale for elevating open societies and human rights as a major British foreign and development policy priority is clear. There have been 15 consecutive years of declining civic space…
Since the Financial Crisis in 2007-8, democratisation has stalled and even gone into reverse. Authoritarianism is proliferating worldwide, including even at the heart of Europe. According to Freedom House, a…
It is not by accident that the most common metaphor in anti-corruption is the contention that ‘sunlight is the best of disinfectants’. It was popularised by soon-to-be US Supreme Court…
The rule of law and the Integrated Review The rule of law’s place in the Integrated Review is something of a walk on part.[1] Alongside a commitment to universal…
The UK Government’s stated commitment to open societies is unequivocal. In the wide-ranging Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March this year, open societies are…
The challenge of defending and advancing democracy around the world is intertwined with economic challenges facing the UK and other societies: “Open and democratic societies like the UK must…