Category: Democracy Assistance and Promotion

Owners of the Republic: Can Egypt’s military counter authoritarian fragility?

     

Egypt’s military is consolidating its role as an autonomous actor that can reshape markets and influence government policy. But recent protests suggest that, rather than a model of stability, the… Read more »

Democracy doomsayers question causes of backsliding

     

Are the causes of democratic erosion the same in the advanced liberal democracies as seen in Venezuela, Hungary, Turkey, Spain before the Spanish Civil War, and Germany and Italy before… Read more »

Explaining Asia’s turn to illiberal democracy

     

The return of the Rajapaksa brothers to power in Sri Lanka highlights a broader and more alarming trend: the rise of illiberal democracy in South Asia as Sri Lanka joins… Read more »

What Peronism’s return means for Argentina

     

  The October 27 elections returned the Peronist Party to power in Argentina. Peronist candidate Alberto Fernández won the presidency with 48 percent of the vote, the party retained a majority in… Read more »

Hong Kong protests: Is Beijing ready to step in?

     

As tension rises between Hong Kong’s police and student activists barricaded inside university campuses, Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated mainland support for Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, saying… Read more »

Turkey’s ‘soft dictatorship’: How to combat Erdogan’s illiberal populism

     

Istanbul’s new mayor says his election victory against Turkey‘s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party carries an important lesson for the world’s populist leaders: Act against the will of the people… Read more »

‘Underestimating democracy’ invites demagoguery, says Walesa

     

Authoritarians are resurgent because of the failure to create a new global system of democratic values, said former Solidarnosc leader and Polish president Lech Walesa. “Polish democracy in practical terms… Read more »

Countering kleptocracy – from the inside out

     

The toxic relationship between the Russian and British elites is something that needs full exposure. They have been collaborating to their mutual enrichment, and to the detriment of democracy and… Read more »

Upholding democratic values needs strong norms & operational principles

     

The cluster of organizations around the National Endowment for Democracy has evolved into “a huge apparatus” with its strong norms and operational principles, one expert observes, at a time when… Read more »

Ideological ‘grievance state’: Five Faces of Russia’s Soft Power

     

Russia’s human rights situation is getting worse with each passing year, says Tatanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch. The regime routinely “messes up” because it has destroyed almost all feedback… Read more »