Soft power not enough in the Balkans
The 21st century in the Balkans is starting to look dangerously like the 19th — with one important difference. In the 19th century, Russia and Turkey were big rivals in… Read more »
Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion
Legislating authoritarianism in Egypt
Egypt’s new authoritarian regime is rapidly closing the public space—cracking down on autonomous civil society and independent political parties, asphyxiating the practice of pluralist politics, and thwarting citizens’ peaceful and… Read more »
Enhancing government transparency in Paraguay
Access to public information and government transparency in Paraguay are enhanced by a new agreement between the Institute of Law and Environmental Economics (IDEA) and the Office of Citizen Attention,… Read more »
Ukraine: Europe’s East Faces Unsettled West
The Kremlin’s attempts to destroy Ukraine’s European aspirations is simply one of Russia’s many challenges to the post-World War II international liberal order, notes analyst Natalie A. Jaresko. The actions… Read more »
Rebuilding Syria (and Iraq): Reconstruction and Legitimacy
On the sixth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, moderate rebels have never been weaker, analyst Charles Lister writes for Foreign Policy. Within two years of its resurgence, the Islamic State… Read more »
How to keep the human rights high ground
The U.S. is threatening to withdraw from the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council if it does not undertake “considerable reform,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned a group of nine… Read more »
Beyond Daesh: Crisis of Governance and Imperative of Reform
Some 89% of respondents to the annual Arab Opinion Index (AOI) survey expressed negative and very negative views about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or… Read more »
How Egypt’s activists became ‘Generation Jail’
Six years after the Arab Spring, Egypt’s democracy activists live under constant threat of prison — or worse, notes analyst Joshua Hammer. It was just six years ago that Ahmed… Read more »
How to preserve Tunisia’s fragile democracy
Tunisia’s top diplomat wants the U.S. to “reach out more” to the tiny North African nation for collaboration against the evolving threat posed by the Islamic State — and to… Read more »
Growing threats to civil society
A healthy and functioning civil society is vital for human rights and democracy everywhere, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission writes: Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a crucial role in… Read more »