After Iran’s protests: What comes next?
The recent protests in Iran are unlikely to change who is in power. But they will spark a change of the system, led by the system, according to Dina Esfandiary, a… Read more »
Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion
Russian sharp power fuels Balkans’ democratic regression
Growing Russian influence in the Balkans is undermining democratic institutions and retarding regional states’ prospects of accession to the European Union, observers suggest. The EU is launching a diplomatic… Read more »
Hard times for U.S. soft power
Global confidence in US leadership has fallen to a new low, according to a Gallup poll conducted across 134 countries, CNN reports: The US rating is down nearly 20 points from… Read more »
Transatlantic democracies: converging or diverging?
The ‘Western ideal’ – a concept embodied in the democratic processes and free-market economies of the West – has long been a powerful draw for others, including originally for the… Read more »
Contrasting – and combatting – Russian and Chinese influence operations
China’s influence operations are “strategic and multifaceted”, The Guardian notes: The National Endowment for Democracy recently described other aspects as “sharp power”: the effort by authoritarian states not just to attract support… Read more »
With democracy on the defensive, time for U.S. to ‘re-enter the fight’
With democracy on the defensive, America is missing in action, argues Brookings analyst William Galston. The latest Freedom House survey of global freedom (see below) notes “the accelerating withdrawal of… Read more »
Democracy is ‘under assault’ and ‘in retreat,’ says Freedom House
A new report from the independent watchdog organization Freedom House says that democratic principles such as election integrity and freedom of the press are weakening globally for the 12th consecutive… Read more »
The 4Ps of the disinformation age
The Russian government is paying off Canada’s largest media companies to expose unsuspecting television subscribers to regime-sponsored disinformation in what amounts to a surreal 24 hour propaganda infomercial, notes… Read more »
Anti-democratic forces have ‘no alternative to a liberal international order’
Despite the threat posed to democracy by various forms of populism and authoritarianism, “there is simply no grand ideological alternative to a liberal international order,” argues Princeton University’s G. John… Read more »
Growing backlash as China turns soft power into sharp tool
Australia has launched a scathing attack on China’s efforts to build influence in the Pacific, accusing Beijing of currying favor with the region’s smaller nations by funneling cash into little-used… Read more »