In the last few years and in the course of global crisis we have been observing growing authoritarian challenges to New Democracies in the Western Balkans. Such crisis changes the political landscape of the region resulting in an adaptation of political elites and modes of rule, and seeking for new tools to retain power and secure the legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry. Vedran Dzihic, assistant professor at the Institute of Political Sciences at the University of Vienna, argues that current regimes in the Western Balkans increasingly seek answers to the political crisis by combining democratic with (newly) authoritarian practices and policies.

Judyth Twigg, Professor and Chair, Program in Political Science and International Studies, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University; and Director, Eurasia Health Project and Senior Associate (Non-resident), Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS, will focus on Russia's emergence in the international development community, examining health as a priority issue. It will analyze Russia's domestic institutional structure for health assistance, the channels—multilateral, bilateral, non-governmental, and commercial—through which Russia is active in global health, and the motivations driving Russia's actions in these areas. It will also touch on the implications of USAID's departure from Russia, given the substantial role health has played in the USAID portfolio.

This presentation will discuss political changes that the two new governments elected to office in Croatia in November 2011 and in Serbia in May 2012 bring to the landscape of political parties, regional cooperation and EU accession politics in South Eastern Europe.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Wilson Center are working in conjunction to put on a conference discussing the process, mechanisms, and challenges that face the establishment of a democracy in Ethiopia.