Can North Korea ever become a democracy?
North Korea is arguably the most closed and repressive society in the world. But over the past 25 years, the failures of North Korea’s totalitarian system have created the possibility… Read more »
Category: Civil Society
Tunisia’s ‘Robocop’ revolution: No easy lessons from new Arab democracy
Despite Tunisia’s vote for change, enduring miseries are driving an exodus of youth, Reuters reports. A survey by the Arab Barometer research network said a third of all Tunisians, and… Read more »
Budding social activism, legitimacy crises feed Central Asia’s dramatic transformation
Central Asia is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Its governments face legitimacy crises at a time when long-standing leaders are being replaced by little-known, untested ones. Social contracts, by which citizens… Read more »
‘Tsunami Democràtic’: Emerging risk of virtual societal warfare
Virtual societal warfare is a new category of cyberaggression that seeks to manipulate or disrupt the information essential for the effective functioning of economic and social systems, RAND researchers Michael… Read more »
Do Southeast Asia elections signal a consolidation of illiberal rule?
Since the fall of the Indonesian dictator Suharto in 1998, civil society has flourished under the country’s burgeoning democracy. Observers even began calling Indonesia the most democratic nation in… Read more »
Turkish attack endangers Kurds’ resilient ‘democratic experiment’
The Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds, argues James L. Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Syrian… Read more »
How China is crushing the Uighurs
A coalition of 37 human rights and civil society groups today sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection urging Acting Commissioner Morgan to issue a Withhold Release Order… Read more »
Where Americans and Europeans agree – and differ – on democratic values
How are American attitudes similar to or different from those measured in Europe? Are Americans more individualistic than their European counterparts? More religious? Do they value different things in politics? Results of a new Pew… Read more »
Ethiopia’s Abyssinian spring enters a critical phase
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office amid profound strife, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize just seven months before the country’s elections. The timing isn’t necessarily good. The… Read more »
‘Good Governance’ Promotion: Avoid state capture, enhance resilience
On Oct. 20, Bolivian President Evo Morales will go to the polls in search of a fourth term. Victory would extend his time in office to almost two decades, and… Read more »