Arab Spring 2.0? Understanding the New Wave of Protests
A new wave of protests and demonstrations has erupted across the Middle East and North Africa over the past 9 months, the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program observes. In… Read more »
Category: Failed States
Is Haiti a Failing State?
Is Haiti a failing state? Or is it, as they say in French, “a la dérive?” The expression more accurately depicts what is happening in Haiti, providing the image of… Read more »
‘Moscow on the Caribbean’: Can Maduro hold on to power in Venezuela?
University of Oxford Politics Lecturer Maryhen Jiminez Morales discusses expected changes for Venezuela on the global stage under the leadership of Juan Guaidó (above). Institutional desert Beyond billions in investments, Vladimir Putin is… Read more »
Venezuela’s best path to democracy is………….
The line of least resistance to restoring democracy in Venezuela? Pay off the military, argues Michael Albertus, an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and co-author… Read more »
Non-state actors feed failing states, new global disorder
Non-state groups from ISIS to transnational crime syndicates deploy an assortment of tactics and new technologies that strengthen their power to organize, mobilize, fight, and wield influence. As a… Read more »
Foreign aid’s soft power ‘will send ISIS to same grave as communism’?
Foreign assistance is an essential asset in addressing such vital national security interests as countering violent extremism, argues former US Senator Kelly Ayotte. Democracy assistance programs supported by the State… Read more »
Venezuela opposition parties fear election ban
United States Treasury sanctions have now brought international scrutiny on Venezuela’s vice-president Tareck El Aissami, reportedly involved in narcotics rackets from Colombia to Mexico, who went from being an unknown… Read more »
Light Through The Darkness: Toward a New Policy and Strategy for North Korea
The Korean peninsula is always dangerous, but the next few months are especially so. An erratic, nuclear-armed North still covets prosperous South Korea, which is enduring a presidential impeachment crisis… Read more »
The Islamic State: Between Aspirations and Reality
“Democracy is stronger than organizations like ISIS,” U.S. President Barack Obama said today, using one of the names for Islamic State. Democracy is why the United States welcomes “people of… Read more »
Closing space and state fragility
Newfound modesty about Western interventionism does not just concern development assistance, but also democracy promotion and state-building, argues Ellen Laipson, president emeritus of the Stimson Center. “In policy discussions, one… Read more »