Category: Asia

Why the Russian model will not work for Turkey

     

On June 23, somewhere between 8 and 9 million residents of Istanbul will go to the polls to elect their mayor—again. The leading contenders are Ekrem Imamoglu, a dynamic young… Read more »

Can new social contract restore faith in democracy?

     

Labor unions have played a critical role in democratic transitions, in sustaining democracy and  as civil society groups advancing pluralism and democratic norms. So the latest annual Global Rights Index from the… Read more »

How Hong Kong defied Xi Jinping

     

For Communist party officials, it was an embarrassing rebuke: as many as 2m residents of a major Chinese city marching to demand the resignation of its Beijing-appointed leader. And because… Read more »

How to stop China exporting AI-driven digital authoritarianism

     

A United States senator is pushing to ban countries including China from an influential US government accuracy test of facial recognition technology, potentially opening up a new front in the escalating tech war… Read more »

How to ensure that India’s democracy is resilient and inclusive

     

With the general elections in India having concluded in May, many observers are now analyzing the implications of the electoral outcomes on the world’s largest democracy. Yet such analyses of… Read more »

China blinks: what Beijing’s Hong Kong retreat says about Taiwan’s future

     

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers aren’t satisfied with leader Carrie Lam’s public apology for how the government handled a highly unpopular extradition bill. Legislator Claudia Mo said Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s apology… Read more »

Democratic renewal can counter ‘Ill Winds’ of autocracy and complacency

     

Larry Diamond has spent 40 years circumnavigating the globe promoting democracy in Nigeria, Venezuela and some 70 other countries. Yet today he is aghast, notes Gary J. Bass, a professor… Read more »

Challenging illiberal democracy’s ‘post truth’ world. Is the tide shifting?

     

Illiberal regimes have had a good run, but perhaps the tide is shifting. “Protesters poured into [Hong Kong’s] streets for a second Sunday despite the suspension of a controversial bill to expand… Read more »

Two democracies in Beijing’s shadow. Today’s Hong Kong, tomorrow’s Taiwan?

     

  Only a fool would predict a happy ending to the Hong Kong story, but it is also foolish to assume that history will follow a predictable course, notes Jeffrey… Read more »