Category: freedom of association

How Africa’s unions enhance democratization

     

Trade unions in Africa contribute to democratization by acting as instruments of political socialization for their members, according to new research. Survey data from 22,000 respondents in 18 African countries… Read more »

Putin Generation finds its voice in anti-corruption protests

     

In Russia’s once-quiet provinces, young people took the lead in last weekend’s anti-corruption protests, AP reports. According to user data compiled from a social media page for people who said… Read more »

Putin critic Navalny jailed as mass protests ‘energize Russian opposition’

     

A day after Russia saw its largest wave of unsanctioned protests in years, opposition leaders on Monday cheered the turnout as a sign of widespread dissatisfaction with President Vladi­mir Putin…. Read more »

The subtleties – and limits – of China’s soft power

     

The Chinese government has been trying to sell the country itself as a brand—one that has the ability to attract people from other countries in the way that America does… Read more »

Cambodia’s Communist comrades now capitalist cadres

     

For years, Tep Khunnal was the devoted personal secretary of Pol Pot, staying loyal to the charismatic ultracommunist leader even as Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge movement collapsed around them in the… Read more »

Global Civic Activism in Flux

     

For civic activism, it appears to be both the best and worst of times, argues analyst Richard Youngs. The positive dynamics of empowerment and the negative trend of constraints on… Read more »

Colombia peace deal gives way to rights activists’ killings, UN says

     

A new U.N. report found that dozens of civil society and human rights activists were killed in Colombia, the BBC reports. The report coincides with growing concerns that a historic… Read more »

China cracks down on labor as workers lose leading advocate

     

China’s crackdown on labor activists is well depicted in a new film, an exposé that coincides with the passing of one of Chinese workers’ most impressive international advocates. The conviction last… Read more »

Cyber spies target Egyptian rights activists

     

American-Egyptian author Mona Eltahawy is one of many activists and human rights advocates targeted in a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign blamed on Egypt’s government, The Associated Press has found: A booby-trapped… Read more »

Perfect Dictatorship? China‘s “controlocracy” stifles NGOs

     

Authorities in China’s capital have cut off the utilities and destroyed the central heating system of a prominent non-government organization (NGO) set up to help migrant workers, as a new… Read more »