Category: Democratic Governance

Democracy in the Arab World: Still a Mirage?

     

More than five years after the Arab Spring began, the euphoria that accompanied the region’s early uprisings has been replaced by a dogged realism, notes RAND analyst Seth G.Jones. From the indignant graffiti… Read more »

Renewed confrontation in Georgia?

     

  European Union membership “is a historical choice” for Georgia, according to Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze (above). “We are not a country which just decides to join blocs,” he told… Read more »

The Obama Doctrine: from ‘democratic messianism’ to ‘passive progressivism’?

     

  Experience has taught President Barack Obama to temper his idealism with a pragmatic, realist approach to foreign policy, leading him to reject liberal Democratic interventionism. Yet he remains a democratic… Read more »

Autocracies Failed and Unfailed: strategies for ‘good enough governance’

     

Successful democratization attempts depend mostly on the interests of local elites, Stanford University’s Stephen D. Krasner argues in Autocracies Failed and Unfailed: Limited Strategies for State Building, the third of the Atlantic… Read more »

Paradox jeopardizes Ukraine’s transformation

     

Two years on from the protests that ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s revolution is confronting its central paradox: many of the leaders who emerged from it were veterans of… Read more »

Poland’s ruling party aims ‘to delegitimize liberal democracy’

     

  A pan-European rights body said on Monday it would review a newly amended Polish surveillance law, in a fresh challenge to the conservative government that reflects international concerns over… Read more »

Is global democracy in trouble?

     

Or does it just feel like it? PRI asks. “We’re not just talking about a recession of democracies, in terms of countries that are democracies. We’re talking about a recession… Read more »

Moderates’ election gains ‘a setback to Iranian democracy’

     

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday hailed last month’s elections that saw gains for allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, denying they lacked competition, AFP reports: The February… Read more »

Why can’t Ukraine establish the rule of law?

     

Why is Ukraine having so much trouble establishing a state governed by the rule of law? According to analyst Susan Stewart, maintaining a legal vacuum obviously serves the interests of… Read more »