A new Cuba – or Market-Leninism?
The independent Center for Legal Information Cubalex warned Thursday that the attack launched by the regime against it last Friday is not over and that its members could be subject… Read more »
Category: Dictatorships
China’s repression ‘buries rule of law’, erodes implicit pact
After being expelled from court while trying to defend a client who said he had been tortured, Chinese lawyer Li Jinxing wrote: “Is this what being a lawyer is like…?… Read more »
U.S. nominates Cuba envoy, regime ramps up repression
Cuba’s press, emboldened by President Raúl Castro’s call for reforms in 2010, are finding more space for critical comment, but harassment and intimidation from authorities, a legal limbo caused by… Read more »
The new dictators: why personalism rules
The propensity of personalist dictatorships to dismantle institutions and sideline competent individuals out of fear of threats to their power bodes poorly for democracy, according to analysts Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica… Read more »
Succession planning flurry follows Eurasian autocrat’s death
The recent death of Uzbekistan’s seemingly perpetual president has drawn fresh attention to the uncertainties of one-man rule elsewhere in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region, writes Freedom House… Read more »
Arab world needs new social contract
Back in 2011 and 2012, the root causes and drivers of the pro-democracy ‘Arab Spring’ protests were clear. The notion of a “new social contract” came to symbolise the popular… Read more »
How to counter autocrats’ soft power
A new global “soft power” ranking recently reported that the democratic states of North America and Western Europe were the most successful at achieving their diplomatic objectives “through attraction and… Read more »
Vietnam: free imprisoned bloggers
Vietnam’s Communist authorities should quash the politically motivated convictions of two bloggers and release them from prison, Human Rights Watch said today: On September 22, 2016, the Higher People’s Court… Read more »
Human Rights, Accountability, & Access to Information in North Korea
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) from organizations interested in submitting Statements of Interest (SOI) for programs that support… Read more »
Challenging the myth of moral equivalence
The headline: “U.S. investigates potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections.” To those unused to this kind of story, I can imagine that headline, from The Post this week,… Read more »