Category: Analysis

Arab Fractures: Citizens, States, and Social Contracts

     

Long-standing pillars of the Arab order—authoritarian bargains and hydrocarbon rents—are collapsing as political institutions struggle with the rising demands of growing populations, says a new report from the Carnegie Endowment…. Read more »

China and the embarrassment of Western democracy

     

The turmoil of democracy in the West represent a shift in the balance of soft power in the world. Europe and America, in confusion and uncertainty, today look unimpressive. It… Read more »

Countering authoritarianism in cyberspace

     

Authoritarian regimes are increasingly adept at fragmenting and controlling the internet for purposes of censorship, surveillance, and internal and external propaganda and misinformation, note analysts Mario Loyola and James K…. Read more »

China: CCP’s survival strategy ‘exhausted’?

     

Some may dismiss Gao Zhisheng’s prediction of the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party as the wishful thinking of a persecuted dissident, says Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment… Read more »

Middle class bolsters Pakistan’s fragile democracy

     

Pakistan, often in the headlines for terrorism, coups and poverty, has developed something else in recent years: a burgeoning middle class that is fueling economic growth and bolstering a fragile… Read more »

Not only economic issues fueling populist backlash

     

There are many possible causes of the contemporary crisis of democratic belief – economic stagnation and sluggish income growth for median workers; and growing inequality, as educated workers are better… Read more »

‘Cultural counter-revolution’ tests Polish democracy

     

Divisions have heightened as the scope of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party’s ambition has become clear: to roll back the social liberalism that has flourished since communism collapsed and shift… Read more »

‘Dual threat’ from authoritarians, populists saps democracy, watchdog says

     

The resurgence of authoritarian powers and the emergence of “populist and nationalist forces” in democratic states have prompted a deterioration of democracy and growing threats to civil liberties, U.S.-based watchdog… Read more »

China: Struggle at the Top

     

If democracy has an advantage over authoritarianism, it is that the struggles of interest, power, and ego that are the unavoidable stuff of human life take place in the open,… Read more »

Jordan poll reveals pessimism, anxiety over economy and refugees

     

There has been a sharp uptick in the number of Jordanians who are pessimistic about the country’s trajectory, and increased support for closing the borders to Syrian refugees, according to… Read more »