在2020年新冠肺炎的肆虐之下，多數國家都面臨了疫情的挑戰，無論乎是在每日激增的感染人數、死亡人數、以及因為疫情而無法負載的醫療能量。在這種嚴峻的挑戰下，許多觀察家與學者卻看到了威權體制的優勢。因為威權體制可以忽略人權的問題，迅速進行大規模的疫區封鎖，或是對民眾強行進行檢測以及限制人身自由，進而可以較為快速的控制疫情。在這之中，中國與新加坡就是全球防疫的佼佼者。反過來說，對於歐美的民主國家，因為其防疫速度與政府反應較為緩慢，也因為其民主自由的特性而限縮了對人身自由過多的限制，進而導致疫情..

 Most countries have suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. The numbers of confirmed cases and casualties and the overloading medical systems are all visible issues and problems each country is dealing with on a daily basis. Many observers and experts argue that authoritarian countries seem to be more capable of defending the COVID-19 pandemic because they can ignore human rights and intervene aggressively into the society to implement anti-pandemic policy, which allows quicker response to the COVID-19 pandemic and better cont..

歐洲聯盟 2004 年 5 月以及 2007 年 1 月的東擴之舉係 1950 年代以來歐洲統合過程中重要的發展過程。這不僅是使得中東歐地區國家加入歐盟，更重要的意義在於將不同地區文化與結構透過改革的轉軌過程中融入了歐盟的價值。因此，在歐盟未來的主要擴大議程中也包含了土耳其、克羅埃西亞以及西巴爾半島地區國家。對於歐盟而言，加強並保障有關區域和平、穩定、 繁榮、民主、人權以及歐洲法治的理念價值是相當重要的。 對土耳其而言，與歐盟的關係已歷..

The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union in the year of 2004 and 2007 is one of the most significant developments in the process of European Integration since the 1950s. And with Turkey and the Western Balkan States, enlargement will continue to be one of the major issues on the political agendas. More recently, the EU has inspired tremendous reforms in Turkey, Croatia and the Western Balkans. It is vitally important for the EU to ensure a carefully managed enlargement process that extends peace, stability, prosperity, d..