Category: Civil Society

Support civil society not regime change to advance democracy

     

In the wake of the assassination of Qassim Suleimani, it’s imperative to note that “Iran’s capacity and inclination to cause problems for America also reflect our regional presence, posture and… Read more »

Russia’s ‘Internyet’: Beginning of the end of the open era?

     

The United States “needs to be prepared for retaliation in the hard cyber space and soft information space” after killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, says a top expert at the… Read more »

Ukraine poised for a strong 2020: Is Zelensky succeeding?

     

Despite the fact that he took office as an utter political neophyte in one of Europe’s most dysfunctional nations, Volodymyr Zelensky’s government so far has been an extraordinary — and,… Read more »

China’s ‘sprint for soft power’ provokes backlash

     

Xi Jinping promotes the view that China’s system presents an alternative to free-market democracy. And yet Beijing’s sprint for soft power* has been less successful than one might assume, The New… Read more »

Kremlin running scared? Russia’s regions ‘in revolt’

     

While Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates 20 years in the Kremlin and poses as a powerful world leader, his Russian Federation is showing increasing signs of fracture, according to Janusz Bugajski, a senior… Read more »

Back to the future: Another populist, volatile ‘roaring twenties’?

     

The populist test to liberal democracy will remain robust throughout the 2020s,  argues Yasmeen Serhan, a London-based staff writer at The Atlantic: Across Europe, populist leaders have displayed their willingness to… Read more »

China’s annus horribilis: Authoritarian turn ‘challenges the world’

     

More than a dozen Chinese lawyers and activists are reportedly missing or were detained by authorities in the final days of 2019 as part of the Chinese government’s year-end crackdown… Read more »

Roads to Modernity: Democratizing moral revolution

     

While political scientists tend to focus on institutional reforms as a route to democratic renewal, there are also more old-fashioned ways to boost civic fabric, The FT’s Gillian Tett argues…. Read more »

Self-regulating democracy – declared moribund, may be more resilient

     

Democracy, repeatedly declared moribund by schadenfreudian pundits, may be more resilient than some acknow­ledge, notes Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of 10… Read more »