China losing soft power edge ahead of G20 summit
Until late last month Xi Jinping was looking forward to easy “soft power” victories at this week’s meetings with Angela Merkel in Berlin and the G20 summit in Hamburg… Read more »
Category: Civil Society
Egypt’s new NGO law ‘militarizes’ civil society
Egypt’s new NGO law has militarized civil society and demonstrates how security leaders have exploited the need to counter a genuine terrorist threat as a justification to suppress political parties,… Read more »
Populism less contagious – ‘more like accidents of circumstance’?
Recent symptoms of a dangerous and contagious new populism within leading transatlantic democracies “now both look more like horrible accidents of circumstance – ballot-box mutations that earn pity for the… Read more »
Russia’s ‘unstoppable desire for change’
Russia’s future looks bleak without economic and political reform, notes Kenneth Rogoff, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University and recipient of the 2011 Deutsche Bank Prize in… Read more »
Why governments are cracking down on civil society
Why are some governments cracking down on civil society or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)? By our count, 39 of the world’s 153 low- and middle-income countries enacted restrictive funding laws between 1993 and… Read more »
Is Indonesia’s ‘pious democracy’ safe from Islamist extremism?
Indonesia remains a model of moderate Islam, the country’s president said on Monday, countering critics who point to mass rallies by radical Muslims and the jailing of a Christian… Read more »
What does the Kremlin fear? How Russia’s disinformation model works
Russia’s attack on the West stems from its growing internal weakness, and the more the West treats Vladimir Putin as a 10-foot ogre, the better it is for him at… Read more »
Internet the ‘de facto forum’ for Vietnam’s dissenting voices
A prominent blogger and environmental activist in Vietnam was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison on charges of national security offenses, including sharing anti-state propaganda on social media, The New… Read more »
Call for applications – Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
Dedicated to international exchange, the National Endowment for Democracy‘s Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program offers five-month fellowships to leading democracy activists, journalists, and scholars from around the world. During their time… Read more »
Iraqi Kurdistan: Civil Society at the Crossroads
In 2005, Iraq’s Constitution recognized an autonomous Kurdistan region in the north of the country, run by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Today, with a referendum on independence in speculation for… Read more »