Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion

‘Maximalist campaigns’: How nonviolent uprisings succeed

     

  Democracies are dying at the hands of elected authoritarian populists who neuter or take over the institutions meant to constrain them, notes Stanford’s Larry Diamond. Yet mass prodemocracy protests… Read more »

‘Historically unique threat to democratic discourse’: Autocrats waging ‘digital war’

     

A digital ecosystem that can “defend and promote democracy” is needed to counter autocrats’ digital warfare, a top EU official said Thursday. Russia and China* are waging a “digital war”… Read more »

‘Democracy: From Theory to Practice’: Assessing decay, breakdown and renewal

     

The autocratic resurgence was a factor in prompting USAID to declare 2020 as the Year of Democracy and launch a campaign called #Democracy Is… in order “to highlight the interlocking… Read more »

Christian Democracy or Illiberal Democracy?

     

  Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party will remain suspended from the European People’s Party, the EU’s conservative umbrella group, EPP chairman Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, extending a year-long standoff with… Read more »

Why the push for democratic transition in Venezuela faltered

     

  The Trump administration’s bid to replace Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro hit a roadblock after a meeting with Russian officials in Rome last year—and has never recovered, according to The… Read more »

Democracy embattled: How to make renewal happen?

     

A growing number of think tanks uses the World Economic Forum’s conference in Davos as an opportunity to release headline grabbing studies, analyst Mike O’Sullivan writes for Forbes. Of the… Read more »

‘Powder keg’ or ‘pressure cooker’? Iran’s unprecedented legitimacy crisis

     

Iran’s president warned Monday of threats to the Islamic Republic’s “democracy and national sovereignty,” after a body dominated by his ultra-conservative rivals disqualified thousands of candidates, weeks before elections, AFP… Read more »

30 years after Mongolia’s transition: Has democracy delivered?

     

To protect its sovereignty and independence, Mongolia has walked a geopolitical tightrope tethered by a “good neighbor” policy with Russia and China and a “third neighbor” policy with the United… Read more »

‘Potentially destabilizing’ coronavirus crisis exposes China’s governance flaws

     

The Chinese Communist Party’s “prestige and legitimacy are both on the line” in how they handle the coronavirus crisis, observers suggest. “Having realized just how serious this is, and how… Read more »

‘Signposts of Struggle’: Iran’s protest movement endures

     

Human rights sources have reported that detained Iranian protesters are under severe torture in the notorious Fashafuyeh Prison in Tehran by IRGC intelligence agents. The detainees have been subjected to… Read more »