The Economist Latin America August 31, 2019

Politics Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, asked the queen to suspend Parliament soon after it returns on September 3rd. The move caught opposition parties, and many of Mr Johnson’s own Conservative MPs, off guard. The timing of the move, though perfectly legal, was designed to squeeze the already-tight timetable for MPs who want to block a no-deal Brexit. Parliament will not reassemble until October 14th, with votes on the Queen’s Speech in the following week. With Britain due to leave the EU on October 31st, Mr Johnson’s claim that any new deal can be passed in the remaining time is unrealistic. Reaction to the suspension of Parliament was split along Brexit lines. John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons and a Remainer, called it a “constitutional outrage”. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of…

Politics Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, asked the queen to suspend Parliament soon after it returns on September 3rd. The move caught opposition parties, and many of Mr Johnson’s own Conservative MPs, off guard. The timing of the move, though perfectly legal, was designed to squeeze the already-tight timetable for MPs who want to block a no-deal Brexit. Parliament will not reassemble until October 14th, with votes on the Queen’s Speech in the following week. With Britain due to leave the EU on October 31st, Mr Johnson’s claim that any new deal can be passed in the remaining time is unrealistic. Reaction to the suspension of Parliament was split along Brexit lines. John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons and a Remainer, called it a “constitutional outrage”. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the…

DEMOCRACIES ARE generally thought to die at the barrel of a gun, in coups and revolutions. These days, however, they are more likely to be strangled slowly in the name of the people. Take Hungary, where Fidesz, the ruling party, has used its parliamentary majority to capture regulators, dominate business, control the courts, buy the media and manipulate the rules for elections. As our briefing explains, the prime minister, Viktor Orban, does not have to break the law, because he can get parliament to change it instead. He does not need secret police to take his enemies away in the night. They can be cut down to size without violence, by the tame press or the taxman. In form, Hungary is a thriving democracy; in spirit, it is a one-party state. The…

ONE BY ONE, the principles on which the Brexit campaign was fought have been exposed as hollow. Before the referendum, Leavers argued that victory would enable them to negotiate a brilliant deal with the European Union. Now they advocate leaving with no deal at all. Before the vote they said that Brexit would allow Britain to strike more free-trade agreements. Now they say that trading on the bare-bones terms of the World Trade Organisation would be fine. Loudest of all they talked of taking back control and restoring sovereignty to Parliament. Yet on August 28th Boris Johnson, a leading Leaver who is now prime minister, announced that in the run-up to Brexit Parliament would be suspended altogether. His utterly cynical ploy is designed to stop MPs steering the country off the…

DEMOCRACIES ARE generally thought to die at the barrel of a gun, in coups and revolutions. These days, however, they are more likely to be strangled slowly in the name of the people. Take Hungary, where Fidesz, the ruling party, has used its parliamentary majority to capture regulators, dominate business, control the courts, buy the media and manipulate the rules for elections. As our briefing explains, the prime minister, Viktor Orban, does not have to break the law, because he can get parliament to change it instead. He does not need secret police to take his enemies away in the night. They can be cut down to size without violence, by the tame press or the taxman. In form, Hungary is a thriving democracy; in spirit, it is a one-party…

ONE BY ONE, the principles on which the Brexit campaign was fought have been exposed as hollow. Before the referendum, Leavers argued that victory would enable them to negotiate a brilliant deal with the European Union. Now they advocate leaving with no deal at all. Before the vote they said that Brexit would allow Britain to strike more free-trade agreements. Now they say that trading on the bare-bones terms of the World Trade Organisation would be fine. Loudest of all they talked of taking back control and restoring sovereignty to Parliament. Yet on August 28th Boris Johnson, a leading Leaver who is now prime minister, announced that in the run-up to Brexit Parliament would be suspended altogether. His utterly cynical ploy is designed to stop MPs steering the country off…