China’s new media dilemma: profit in online dissent?
What explains China’s almost unique path to wealth without democracy? Fareed Zakaria asks. Yuen Yuen Ang of the University of Michigan argues that over the past few decades, China has… Read more »
Category: Civil Society
Why the Russian model will not work for Turkey
On June 23, somewhere between 8 and 9 million residents of Istanbul will go to the polls to elect their mayor—again. The leading contenders are Ekrem Imamoglu, a dynamic young… Read more »
‘Blitzkrieg of reforms’: But no magic formula for building Ethiopia’s democracy
The ascension of Abiy Ahmed as Ethiopia’s Prime Minister on April 2, 2018, following the massive popular protests of the previous two years, has produced one of the most… Read more »
How Hungary’s bright-eyed Fidesz liberals became populist reactionaries
To say that Hungary is no longer a democracy is a stark claim and I have thought, read and looked hard before making it, notes Oxford University’s Timothy Garton Ash…. Read more »
Can new social contract restore faith in democracy?
Labor unions have played a critical role in democratic transitions, in sustaining democracy and as civil society groups advancing pluralism and democratic norms. So the latest annual Global Rights Index from the… Read more »
How Hong Kong defied Xi Jinping
For Communist party officials, it was an embarrassing rebuke: as many as 2m residents of a major Chinese city marching to demand the resignation of its Beijing-appointed leader. And because… Read more »
Morsi’s ‘mixed legacy’ puts Muslim Brotherhood back in focus
Mohamed Morsi did a poor job as Egypt’s president before being ousted in a bloody military coup by the country’s current dictator, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. But the gross mistreatment Mr…. Read more »
How to stop China exporting AI-driven digital authoritarianism
A United States senator is pushing to ban countries including China from an influential US government accuracy test of facial recognition technology, potentially opening up a new front in the escalating tech war… Read more »
Democracy’s development, decay, or death knell?
Western populism is impossible to understand as a direct result of domestic problems. Rather, it is a reaction to the global redistribution of power that is still taking shape, argues… Read more »
China blinks: what Beijing’s Hong Kong retreat says about Taiwan’s future
Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers aren’t satisfied with leader Carrie Lam’s public apology for how the government handled a highly unpopular extradition bill. Legislator Claudia Mo said Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s apology… Read more »