Category: Civil Society

Venezuela opposition parties fear election ban

     

United States Treasury sanctions have now brought international scrutiny on Venezuela’s vice-president Tareck El Aissami, reportedly involved in narcotics rackets from Colombia to Mexico, who went from being an unknown… Read more »

What to expect from Ecuador’s elections

     

An ally of Ecuador’s leftist President Rafael Correa and a conservative ex-banker are battling to become the next president in Sunday’s election in the face of corruption scandals and a… Read more »

Democracy challenged, but still in demand

     

Democracy promotion, long a pillar of America’s foreign policy framework, is viewed either as too soft or idealistic as a response to serious security threats facing the nation; or it… Read more »

Strategic priorities for advancing democracy

     

Democracy today is being challenged as never before since the end of the Cold War, says Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy. The crisis has many dimensions,… Read more »

Top diplomat to accept democracy group award in Cuba

     

A prominent diplomat is planning a politically sensitive trip to Cuba to accept an award from a pro-democracy group on the island, AP reports: Luis Almagro (above right), secretary general of… Read more »

Rights groups anxious as Saudi activist summoned for interrogation

     

Saudi women’s rights activist Samar Badawi has been summoned for interrogation, according to reports: In January 2016, Badawi faced charges of “incit[ing] public opinion against the state” for speaking out… Read more »

Beware wolves in populist clothing

     

Nationalists versus globalists. Traditionalists versus multiculturalists. The “left behind” versus the elites. If the world’s populists are to be believed, these binary battle lines — ideological boundaries as clear as those… Read more »

Democracy and Human Rights: The Case for U.S. Leadership

     

U.S. Senate Hearing. Thursday, February 16, 2017. Panel One Mr. Carl Gershman, President, National Endowment for Democracy (left) The Honorable Mark Green, President, International Republican Institute Mr. Kenneth Wollack, President, National Democratic Institute Panel… Read more »

Balkans crisis looming?

     

Southern Europe is where democracy was once invented. But today, many there say that democracy isn’t working for them, analyst Rick Noack writes for The Washington Post: There is no shortage… Read more »

Cyber spies target Egyptian rights activists

     

American-Egyptian author Mona Eltahawy is one of many activists and human rights advocates targeted in a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign blamed on Egypt’s government, The Associated Press has found: A booby-trapped… Read more »