Publications

Belgium, a country of 30,689 km² located in northwestern Europe, is densely populated with 11.7 million inhabitants and is very open to the rest of the world. Belgium continuously works to make this openness its strongest asset.

Lithuania’s coalition government faced a challenging environment in 2022 –2024. After coming into power in late 2020, it had to deal immediately with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

After a period of unprecedented turbulence in Austrian politics – including several major scandals and the creation of an all-technocrat government – Austria has more recently found its way back to the calmer waters of stable democratic party governance. However, the...

The two-year review period, 2022 – 2023, largely aligned with the Rutte IV cabinet’s tenure, formed after the longest post-World War II formation period (299 days). Nine months after the 17 March 2021 elections, and almost a year after Rutte III’s resignation, a “new”...

Like other OECD countries, New Zealand has been experiencing high inflation rates due in part to increased government spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain disruptions, near-full employment and geopolitical conflicts. Although inflation levels in New...

Norway is a consolidated multiparty democracy with a parliamentary constitution, where the rule of law guarantees undamental civil and political rights. Policymaking is transparent, and corruption is minimal.

Denmark’s democracy is robust and is characterized by a high level of political stability. Elections are conducted in an open and democratic manner, and anti-democratic movements remain fringe phenomena.

In December 2023, Poland’s conservative government concluded its de facto eight-year rule, marking the end of a period characterized by profound systemic changes. These changes began with an unprecedented challenge to the state’s foundational principles, resulting in...

In many respects, Estonia has successfully established a sustainable democracy. Civil rights and the rule of law are strong, the plurality of opinion in politics and civil society is effective, and both national and household wealth are increasing over the long term.

The period under review began with developments that gave rise to optimism in Portugal. First, the country entered 2022 as one of the most vaccinated nations in the world against COVID-19, with 83.5% of its population fully vaccinated by January 14, 2022. Second, Portugal...