Why host ‘unseemly parade’ of Asian dictators?
The upcoming US-ASEAN summit will include leaders – like Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 25 years – who were previously considered too ruthless and repressive to be received… Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
Autocrats’ bag of tricks for staying in power
Excluding hereditary monarchies, there are close to 40 countries around the world in which the national leader has been in power for 10 or more years, writes Freedom House analyst… Read more »
How Putin lost Ukraine
When the Russian inquest finally comes, the answer will be clear. It was President Vladimir Putin who lost Ukraine – after a millennium of shared east Slav identity, argues analyst Elizabeth… Read more »
Burkina Faso and the Sahel: Turning Points in Elections and Security
Sub-Saharan Africa was long seen as relatively immune to the call of Islamist militancy because of its unorthodox religious practices — rooted in Sufism, a more mystical mode of Islam… Read more »
Khomeini poll exclusion, consultant’s jailing send chilling message from Iran’s hardliners
After months of political maneuvering, the scion of the powerful Khomeini family and the projected figurehead of Iran’s ailing reform movement was definitively barred Wednesday from participating in parliamentary elections… Read more »
Qozhayya Chehwan seized from home by Syrian intel
I was born in December 1951, in northern Lebanon. I lived in the town of Batroun, raising a family of four children with my wife, and leading a quiet, peaceful… Read more »
Rule of Law in Areas of Limited Statehood
The Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus regions are increasingly characterized by Areas of Limited Statehood (ALS): ALS are territories where governments lack the ability or will to implement… Read more »
Institutionally blind? Human rights abuses in former Soviet Union
Are the major international institutions covering the former Soviet Union meeting their human rights commitments? A new report shows how the independence and integrity of institutions defending human rights in… Read more »
North Korea: The Human Condition and Security Nexus
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), the George W. Bush Institute, the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty, and the National… Read more »
Cuba preparing for ‘probable presidential transition’ in 2018
U.S. intelligence services believe Cuba is preparing for a “probable presidential transition in 2018,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday. “Cuban leaders will remain focused on preserving political… Read more »