Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion

Informing voters doesn’t shape political behavior or ensure accountability

     

How does providing information to voters affect political behavior and preferences? From India to Mexico to Uganda, the answer remained the same: It doesn’t. The combined data revealed no significant… Read more »

Can Ecuador reverse Andean region’s media crackdown?

     

  Former president Rafael Correa’s government used state media outlets as campaign propaganda machines, it was alleged today. His administration’s censorship policies also constituted a ruthless assault on free media in Ecuador,… Read more »

Could Hungary’s ‘dark path to dictatorship’ set precedent?

     

Hungarian citizens are increasingly disturbed by the country’s authoritarian trajectory, while civil society groups fear Viktor Orban’s illiberal turn could establish a precedent for other European states, reports suggest. Goran… Read more »

A realist case for advancing Arab democracy

     

Despite the reportedly path-breaking retreat from even the rhetoric of promoting democracy and human rights, there is a robust realist argument for advancing freedom in the Middle East, according to Elliott… Read more »

Clash of Narratives: disinformation vital to eight phases of Russia’s hybrid warfare

     

Ever since the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Western capitals have been alarmed at Russia’s hybrid warfare campaigns, notes analyst Kaan Sahin. Germany in particular had already… Read more »

‘Gross misconduct’ in Syrian dissident’s asylum denial

     

Forty-one-year-old Radwan Ziadeh’s résumé is enough to make a Washington overachiever blush, notes Suzanne Nossel, executive director of the Pen American Center and former deputy assistant secretary of state for… Read more »

A populist foreign policy for ‘Defending the West’?

     

Does a “clash between internationalists urging the traditional US leadership role in the world and advocates of an ‘America First’ approach” reported by Reuters presage an impending foreign policy crisis?… Read more »

Reforming and Reorganizing U.S. Foreign Assistance: bolstering democratic governance essential

     

Democracy, human rights, and governance should be integrated into foreign assistance programs, according to a report by a bipartisan Task Force on Reforming and Reorganizing U.S. Foreign Assistance. A new Bureau… Read more »

How to solve a problem like North Korea

     

North Koreans are becoming more independent of the ruling Kim regime, with the vast majority of households earning their living through markets rather than relying on the state, according to… Read more »