An ‘existential threat’ in China’s future?
More than halfway through his five-year term as president of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party—expected to be the first of at least two—Xi Jinping’s widening crackdown… Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
Russia’s growing intolerance of dissent
Today, at Moscow’s eminent House of Cinematography, pro-Kremlin protesters attacked the award ceremony of an annual student competition organized by the civil society group Memorial, writes Tanya Lokshina of Human… Read more »
Latin America’s democratic moment?
When street protests forced Guatemala’s president to step down last fall amid a corruption scandal (left), it seemed a rare break in a long and lucrative tradition of impunity in… Read more »
China prompts criticism with new curbs on foreign NGOs
China took a major step on Thursday in President Xi Jinping’s movement away from Western influences and toward stronger social control, as it passed a new law aimed at limiting the work… Read more »
Venezuelan opposition begins attempt to remove Maduro
After rejecting three previous requests for petition sheets, Venezuela’s electoral commission released the documents yesterday that allow the opposition to begin the constitutional process of removing President Nicolas Maduro from… Read more »
Political violence pushes Bangladesh close to ‘democratic collapse’
Al Qaeda and Islamic State have both sought to gain a foothold in this predominantly Muslim nation of 160 million people, and experts worry that Bangladesh is ill equipped… Read more »
Russia’s internet censor enlists China’s Firewall expertise
For an authoritarian government looking to tighten control of an unruly internet, who better to call than the architect of China’s “great firewall”? That was the thinking of Konstantin Malofeev, a multimillionaire… Read more »
Mapping the New Battlespace of Information
In the digital age, social media can become a weapon of disinformation and sophisticated propaganda can shape important policy debates. Russia has been an early adopter of these techniques and… Read more »
How to combat anti-NGO crackdowns
Authoritarian regimes have cracked down on civil society groups receiving international assistance because foreign-funded NGOs are threatening for all manner of reasons, analysts Kendra Dupuy, James Ron and Aseem Prakash write for… Read more »
Iran opens new front: cyber warfare
Iran is rapidly emerging as the sixth member of the cyber superpower club. Denuded of its nuclear ambitions by the landmark deal struck last year to limit uranium and plutonium enrichment,… Read more »