North Korea’s Solzhenitsyn
It was a dog-eared manuscript, 743 pages bound in string. But for Do Hee-youn, an activist campaigning for human rights in North Korea, it was nothing less than stunning, The… Read more »
Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion
Can crowdfunding bypass civil society crackdowns?
With heightened restrictions on foreign funding, reporting on the Russian government’s repression requires creative social media projects, argues Grigory Okhotin, one of the founding members of OVD-Info in Russia. Given… Read more »
How TV can help fight ISIS
It is not accidental that the Islamic State has taken root in some of the most poorly governed countries in the Muslim world. State-building is an unpopular mission, from which… Read more »
‘Triple whammy’ could hit democracy agenda
The next four years could see a triple whammy of declining American interest in promoting democracy, the undermining of collective action by the world’s largest democratic power, and a deteriorating… Read more »
S. M. Lipset & democracy’s fragility
If Seymour Martin Lipset had lived, he would have celebrated his 95th birthday on 18 March. Today, his prolific scholarship remains as timely and influential as when he was an… Read more »
Reality check: life in a Cuban jail
Stephen Purvis loved Cuba and his job as development director with one of several small foreign firms that were setting up as the country sought international partners following the collapse… Read more »
How political populism has taken root
Populism and political extremism has been on the rise for years, especially in Europe, with both left and right wing authoritarians gaining in popularity, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank…. Read more »
After the Miracle: The End of the Asian Century?
East Timor is voting for a new president in an election that will test Asia‘s newest and poorest nation, VOA reports. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s ongoing crackdown against opposition politicians and… Read more »
Kleptocratic Russia’s plot against the West
With Europe’s political stability, social cohesion, economic prosperity and security more threatened today than at any point since the Cold War, Russia is destabilizing the Continent on every front, argues… Read more »
Colombia peace deal gives way to rights activists’ killings, UN says
A new U.N. report found that dozens of civil society and human rights activists were killed in Colombia, the BBC reports. The report coincides with growing concerns that a historic… Read more »