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NL Syria at a crossroads: hope for democracy or a facade of elections?
Source: Pexels It has been over 10 months since the posters of former dictator Bashar Al Assad were torn down from the streets in the capital Damascus in celebratory fashion. After a gruesome 50 years under the dictatorial rule of the Assad family, in which hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been displaced, murdered, mistreated and scattered across several [...]
Survival by escalation: Dodik's illegal referendum in Republika Srpska
Source: Wikimedia Commons On 25 October, citizens of Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), will go to the polls for an unconstitutional referendum. The question put to them is strikingly worded: "Do you accept the decisions of unelected foreigner Christian Schmidt and the unconstitutional rulings [...]
Revival of Arab Social Democratic Women's Union in Sulaymaniyah
Photo: Progressive Alliance On 27 August 2025, a conference of the Social Democratic Alliance in the Arab World (SDA-AW) was held in Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The central theme was the re-establishment of the Arab Social Democratic Women Union. On behalf of the Max van de Stoel Foundation, Diandra Monhemius attended. Below is her report: On [...]
Mikola Statkevich: released and re-imprisoned in Belarus
This is a repost of a report from 2023. Back in 2023, we shared a photo report on Mikola Statkevich, prominent political prisoner from Belarus. He was detained after participating in peaceful protests in 2020. Since 2023, he was kept in complete isolation, with no contact with the outside world. Until last Thursday, when Statkevich was released, together [...]
Also come to the commemoration 'Four trees for Belarus'
Tuesday, 16 September 2025 at 11:00 am To everyone who feels involved in the annual commemoration on 16 September at the four trees on the square near Paradijslaan and Zwembadweg. On 16 September, the eighteenth commemoration will take place at four trees planted in Eindhoven in 2008. The trees commemorate [...]
From fear to participation - a Syrian perspective on democracy in the Netherlands
Photo: Ballot paper for the 2017 elections - Wikimedia Commons How do you process experiences from an authoritarian regime in a country that runs on democratic rules of the game? For many people who grew up in Syria, this is not a natural process. In this piece, Syrian journalist Hasan Kaddour describes how mistrust of authority, formed in [...]
Analysis: the Serbian student protests in 2025
This publication and text continues in English - as the FMS conducted this research with an international consortium under Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB), led by the Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS). Until recently, Generation Z in Serbia was often perceived as apolitical and more immersed in the digital [...]
Europe's future in the hands of the Western Balkans
Source: Shutterstock It was not to be missed, the NATO summit in The Hague last week. With security on high alert in The Hague, tensions in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine, there was plenty to discuss around the forums. Besides the 5% NATO standard, it was reiterated that Russia is the biggest threat to NATO countries. [...]
Campaign training in the Caucasus
"We are broke, exhausted and frustrated." The participants of Georgia's annual Progressive Academy for Social Change do not mince words when I, as an FMS trainer, ask how they are doing. More than six months after Georgia's elections were unfair and large-scale protests broke out, they are through. The ruling party [...]
From democracy to autocracy: how Erdoğan keeps expanding his power
Source: Marko Djurica | REUTERS Turkey still has elections, a parliament and an opposition. But anyone who looks closely can see that the political system has changed considerably in recent years. Under President Erdoğan, the space for dissent has become smaller and smaller. Journalists, judges and political opponents face intimidation, persecution or censorship. The arrest in late [...]