Press Release, 20.10.2026

Photo: Alexander Gnezdilov / Photo by the Yabloko Party University

On 3 November, the Yabloko Party University will resume its work. The new term will open with a lecture by Alexander Gnezdilov, member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee and editor-in-chief of “Smart Power Journal”, entitled “Not Only the West: Taiwanese-Style Democracy”. Registration is already open, and everyone is welcome to join.

International ratings show that the level of civil liberties and human rights protection in Taiwan is comparable to, and even ahead of, that of other liberal democracies in East Asia, such as Japan and South Korea.

But how has Taiwan managed to achieve this, given that the first democratic presidential election on the island was held only 30 years ago, in 1996? How did Taiwan’s separate statehood emerge, and how did it move from a harsh authoritarian regime to democracy? Could the situation in the Taiwan Strait get out of control and become the third hotspot, after Russia/Ukraine and the Middle East conflicts, in the confrontation between the free world and the alliance of dictatorships? What is Taiwan’s strategic importance for democratic countries in general and for the United States in particular? And, finally, what lessons has Taipei’s political class drawn from the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine?

Alexander Gnezdilov will address these and other questions in his lecture.

The lecture will take place at the Yabloko office on 3 November at 7 pm. Registration (https://party-yabloko.timepad.ru/event/4263106/ ) is required.

It should be noted that “Not Only the West: Taiwanese-Style Democracy” is the second lecture in Alexander Gnezdilov’s series on the modern developed democracies of the Far East that have succeeded in adapting the life of their societies to political institutions of Western origin.

Watch the first lecture, on democracy in Japan, on the party’s YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/pWgg5AZ3AXs ).

The schedule of upcoming Party University lectures is available on the Yabloko website (https://www.yabloko.ru/uni ).