Joan is Regional Manager, Europe, at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the business information arm of The Economist Group. Joan is one of the Europe team's UK analysts. She also specialises in the politics and economics of Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe; political development and political risk; geopolitics; democracy; state-building; post-communist transition. Joan is the Editor of the EIU's flagship annual Democracy Index. The 2015 edition, Democracy in an age of anxiety, was published in January 2016. Joan authored a special report for the BBC's Democracy Day events on January 20th 2015, entitled Democracy on the Edge: Populism and Protest. Both reports, and previous editions of the Democracy Index, are freely available on the EIU website (www.eiu.com).

Richard Wike is director of global attitudes research at Pew Research Center. He conducts research and writes about international public opinion on a variety of topics, including America's global image, the rise of China, and views in predominantly Muslim nations. Previously, he was a senior associate for international and corporate clients at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Wike received a doctorate in political science from Emory University. He is an author of numerous Pew Research Center releases, including studies on international views of the U.S., the Arab Spring, and social networking around the world, as well as public opinion in China, Pakistan and Egypt.