The European Union expects candidate countries to be democracies governed by the rule of law, notes the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index: Despite some temporary reversals, all countries generally made… Read more »
In the early 1990s, a wave of democracy swept the African continent, leading many observers to proclaim enthusiastically that the region was experiencing its “second independence,” analyst Mamadou Gazibo writes… Read more »
China has issued new rules demanding the establishment of Communist Party panels in non-government bodies, aiming to beef up the ruling party’s role in such social groups, amid a broad… Read more »
Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, has made no secret of his ambition to restore his country to what he sees as its rightful place among the world’s leading nations…. Read more »
European leaders have become increasingly uncomfortable with what they see as authoritarian tactics of the Turkish government, particularly since last month’s bungled military coup, Bloomberg reports. Focus groups convened… Read more »
Some call it Africa’s second liberation. After freedom from European colonisers came freedom from African despots. Since the end of the cold war multi-party democracy has spread far and… Read more »
Advancing democracy is not the same as regime change, says a leading practitioner. “We have said over and over again that what this is all about is not changing a regime,”… Read more »
Russia has banned a 25th-anniversary tribute to the thousands who helped defeat an attempted coup by communist hardliners trying to topple Mikhail Gorbachev, The Times reports: Critics said the order… Read more »
Experts say there is a clear incentive for Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the United States of meddling in internal Russian affairs, to continue to seek to play an… Read more »
In Ukraine’s restive east, artillery explosions ring out and international monitors record dozens of shell bursts every evening. The ceasefire between Kiev and the Russian-backed separatists is fraying badly, The… Read more »