Democratizing China
Perhaps the most intriguing question regarding political development in the post-Mao era is why China has not taken significant steps toward democratization despite more than two decades of unprecedented… Read more »
Category: Asia
Burma’s troubled transition
On April 5, Francis Fukuyama, Director of Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law held an interview with FSI Senior Fellow Larry Diamond on Burma’s recent… Read more »
USB-armed North Korean defectors subvert info firewall
More than 260 people have studied at a defector-led journalist academy since 2011, some going on to work for radio stations that broadcast into North Korea, or to write… Read more »
The Puzzle of the Chinese Middle Class
Seymour Martin Lipset famously argued that economic development would enlarge the middle class, and that the middle class would demand democracy. Writing in the latest issue of the Journal of… Read more »
Can civil society tame Pakistan’s violent extremism?
Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators… Read more »
State Capitalism resurgence threatens democracy
Liberal democracies are under threat from a resurgence of state capitalism, which is ultimately “more protectionist, more dangerous to global security and prosperity, and more threatening to political freedom” than free… Read more »
Illiberal powers emboldened – Authoritarianism Goes Global
Over the past decade, and gained influence within the global arena. Leading authoritarian countries―including China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela―have developed new tools and strategies to contain the… Read more »
Vietnam convicts 7 activists in one week
Vietnam’s Communist authorities should immediately free prominent bloggers and activists imprisoned for exercising their rights, Human Rights Watch said today: During the last week of March 2016, Vietnam convicted seven… Read more »
Amid signs of discontent, new law hits China’s rights groups’ funding
China’s new law regulating charities is a further blow to its rights activists, and could restrict any non-government group from raising funds to help some of the country’s most vulnerable people, an overseas-based… Read more »
Critical open letter highlights ‘paranoia’ within China’s ruling party
A series of extraordinary outbursts of public criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent weeks has raised the question of whether his crackdown on dissent is backfiring, the Washington… Read more »