Category: Democratic Transitions

Tunisian Democratic Transition in Comparative Perspective

     

Tunisia’s fledgling democracy has weathered a parliamentary-prompted transfer of power. On Saturday, the parliament passed an unprecedented vote of no confidence in former Prime Minister Habib Essid, disbanding his government…. Read more »

Promises made, promises broken? Russia and the West

     

The West does not need to back down from its view that the inclusion of Central and Eastern Europe into NATO and the EU promoted strategic interests and values, notes… Read more »

The Fractious Path: Pakistan’s Democratic Transition

     

  Since its creation in 1947, Pakistan has oscillated between weak democratic governments and military dictatorships. In 2013, for the first time, there was a peaceful transfer of power from… Read more »

Chilcot report proves Iraq war was not about advancing democracy

     

  The invasion of Iraq has had a huge impact on the debate about democracy in the Middle East—and almost entirely a detrimental one, notes Jane Kinninmont, senior research fellow… Read more »

New Forms of Democratic Citizenship in MENA

     

The Arab Spring opened a window of opportunity to revise democracy support in a direction that better reflects local interpretations of citizenship and rights, but external actors have yet to… Read more »

Islamists threaten ‘fractious path’ of Pakistan’s democratic transition

     

Weeks of scathing criticism has apparently prompted a provincial government in Pakistan to review a grant of $3 million it has recently allocated for a controversial Islamic seminary, which some… Read more »

Brexit is a ‘warning to the liberal international order’

     

The British people’s decision to leave the European Union is the country’s single biggest democratic act in modern times, notes commentator Andrew Marr – and one of the elite’s most… Read more »

Brexit might undermine Europe’s democratic order

     

In the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote, it is easy to forget that democracy in Europe is a relatively recent development, notes Barnard College professor Sheri Berman. Up through… Read more »

Making democracy work in Central and Eastern Europe

     

In Central and Eastern Europe, conservative nationalist governments in Hungary and Poland are causing alarm in western European capitals that democracy itself is under sustained challenge in the post-communist half of Europe,… Read more »

Empowering local actors, devolving power can assist Syria’s transition process

     

If the United States screens refugees for security risks, 59% of Americans support taking in refugees from the conflicts in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, while 41% oppose, according… Read more »