Far cry from doom-laden predictions at the start of 2016

South Korea under pressure as China competes head on

Western policymakers have struggled to categorize the Russian political system, often resorting to vague phrases such as “illiberal democracy” or “authoritarianism.” If anything, the Russian system should be characterized as proto-fascist – tamer than the interwar European fascist states, but featuring key elements of those regimes.

The country has 50 sites recognised by the UN’s cultural arm, compared with Italy’s 51