Category: Civil Society

Russia’s anti-corruption protests ‘likely to be large’ as ‘Laundromat’ highlights kleptocratic rule

     

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny today declined Moscow city authorities’ proposal to hold an anti-corruption rally on 26 March in the Lyublino or Sokolniki districts of the capital, instead calling… Read more »

Can crowdfunding bypass civil society crackdowns?

     

With heightened restrictions on foreign funding, reporting on the Russian government’s repression requires creative social media projects, argues Grigory Okhotin, one of the founding members of OVD-Info in Russia. Given… Read more »

Reality check: life in a Cuban jail

     

Stephen Purvis loved Cuba and his job as development director with one of several small foreign firms that were setting up as the country sought international partners following the collapse… Read more »

How political populism has taken root

     

Populism and political extremism has been on the rise for years, especially in Europe, with both left and right wing authoritarians gaining in popularity, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank…. Read more »

After the Miracle: The End of the Asian Century?

     

  East Timor is voting for a new president in an election that will test Asia‘s newest and poorest nation, VOA reports. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s ongoing crackdown against opposition politicians and… Read more »

Global Civic Activism in Flux

     

For civic activism, it appears to be both the best and worst of times, argues analyst Richard Youngs. The positive dynamics of empowerment and the negative trend of constraints on… Read more »

Colombia peace deal gives way to rights activists’ killings, UN says

     

A new U.N. report found that dozens of civil society and human rights activists were killed in Colombia, the BBC reports. The report coincides with growing concerns that a historic… Read more »

Legislating authoritarianism in Egypt

     

Egypt’s new authoritarian regime is rapidly closing the public space—cracking down on autonomous civil society and independent political parties, asphyxiating the practice of pluralist politics, and thwarting citizens’ peaceful and… Read more »

How to ensure Kremlin remembers Boris Nemtsov

     

Last month, thousands of people held rallies and vigils in cities across Russia to mark the second anniversary of the murder of former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, a leader of the… Read more »

Rebuilding Syria (and Iraq): Reconstruction and Legitimacy

     

On the sixth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, moderate rebels have never been weaker, analyst Charles Lister writes for Foreign Policy. Within two years of its resurgence, the Islamic State… Read more »