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Category: Democracy

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 [...]

NATO in The Hague: Peace is more than defence!

As world leaders prepare to meet in The Hague for the 2025 NATO summit, we call for a balanced vision of peace and security. A vision that puts people at the centre. At a time when the focus is increasingly on defence and military preparedness, we urge equal [...]

In conversation with a generation standing up for its future

Source: Getty Images When I arrived in Belgrade on 13 May, I immediately felt that we were at a special moment in the country. Together with a delegation of 11 people, I travelled to Serbia on behalf of Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB) and Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS), to see for myself [...]

Through the eyes of a Serbian journalist: Dinko Gruhonjić on media, fear and the student uprising in Serbia

Photo: Dinko Gruhonjić (Wikimedia Commons) In this third and final article on the Serbian student movement, the Max van der Stoel Foundation and the International Green Left Foundation once again join forces. We spoke to Dinko Gruhonjić, a journalist with more than 20 years of experience and programme director of the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV). In addition to his [...]

Bosnia & Herzegovina at a tipping point: Why Europe must act now

Photo: Dodik and Putin in 2024 (WikiMedia Commons) The FMS is publishing this piece from a collaboration of organisations from the Netherlands that want to put EU integration of the Western Balkans on the map. We are doing this together with PAX, NHC, Free Press Unlimited, Dutch-Albanian Friendship Foundation and Humanitarian Intervention Committee. Follow our calendar for future events [...]