Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion

Why Democracy Is So Hard to Build

     

Today’s pessimism about democracy is both historically unwarranted and self-defeating; it undermines the optimism necessary to sustain the struggle ahead, argues Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard… Read more »

Polarization a key factor in democracy’s ‘alarming’ decline

     

The latest Freedom in the World report – compiled by more than 100 experts and drawing on data from 209 countries – describes an “ominous” global erosion of democratic values… Read more »

Democracy & the Illiberal Temptation

     

The world offers more lessons about how democracies grow weak and brittle than how they can be revived, but it should at least be possible to figure out a systematic… Read more »

Democracy in retreat: ‘ominous’ decline around the world, says Freedom House

     

Democracy is undergoing an ‘alarming’ decline around the world, according to the latest annual survey from Freedom House.* The country-by-country report – Freedom In The World 2019 – paints a… Read more »

How China’s sharp power takes aim at democracy

     

As Chinese power grows, Stanford University’s  Larry Diamond breaks down Beijing’s efforts to direct “sharp power” against democratic institutions, notes War On The Rocks. The key battleground appears to be… Read more »

Venezuela: ‘time for democratic transition is now’

     

Global support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó expanded Monday as a growing chorus of Western nations increased pressure on the authoritarian regime of cash-strapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Wall… Read more »

Russian efforts to subvert democracies demand counter info-ops campaign

     

  Vladimir Putin is committed to dividing and destroying the West’s democracies, according to a former confidante. From our conversations in 1992, I realized that Mr. Putin understood that it… Read more »

How Khomeini betrayed the democratic promise of the Iranian revolution

     

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini betrayed the principles of the Iranian revolution after sweeping to power in 1979, leaving a “very bitter” taste among some of those who had returned with him… Read more »

‘A Case of Irresponsible Asset Return’ benefits Kazakhstan kleptocracy

     

Following a year-long investigation, the Corruption and Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have published their full findings on Kazakhstan II, produced in collaboration with the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Kazakhstan II is… Read more »

‘Moscow on the Caribbean’: Can Maduro hold on to power in Venezuela?

     

University of Oxford Politics Lecturer Maryhen Jiminez Morales discusses expected changes for Venezuela on the global stage under the leadership of Juan Guaidó (above). Institutional desert Beyond billions in investments, Vladimir Putin is… Read more »