Category: National Endowment for Democracy

Inadequate understanding of democratic backsliding delays countervailing action

     

Academic and policy communities have often focused their attention on the causes of democratic backsliding at the expense of understanding the process. But far less attention has been paid to the sequencing,… Read more »

Maduro’s ‘sticking power’: Venezuela shows problems of countering backsliding

     

The recent history of Venezuela shows that neither domestic opposition nor the international community are always able to push back on the retreat from democracy, according to Geoffrey Macdonald, the… Read more »

How to stop democracies money laundering for 21st Century authoritarians

     

To the detriment of U.S. foreign policy, gaps in anti-money laundering regulations have enabled kleptocracy and in turn, strengthened authoritarianism, state failure, civil unrest, and social degradation across the world, notes… Read more »

How democratic renewal can uphold liberal world order

     

A recent speech by George W. Bush made headlines showed an understanding of the grave stakes that challenge the United States and other Western democracies, liberal commentator Michael Tomasky writes for the… Read more »

After Zimbabwe, signs of transition in Angola’s kleptocracy?

     

A revolutionary anti-colonial leader who held power for almost four decades. A government rife with nepotism and corruption. A people beset by poverty. Hope for a democratic transition, but far more… Read more »

Zimbabwe civil society calls for post-Mugabe ‘national dialogue’

     

Zimbabwe’s Platform for Concerned Citizens, a civil society group, called on Tuesday for a far-reaching national dialogue involving all political parties to help plot a new course for the country… Read more »

The globalization of Chinese propaganda: monetizing soft power initiatives

     

The Vatican and China are planning a first-ever exchange of artworks, as the two states forge ahead with soft diplomacy amid a stalemate in negotiations to heal decades of diplomatic… Read more »

Angela’s Ashes? German crisis ‘bodes badly for democratic governments everywhere’

     

The political crisis in Berlin challenges the idea of “German exceptionalism” as an anchor of democratic stability and a bulwark against a wave of populism, reports suggest. The hopes of many that… Read more »

‘World’s Newest One-Party State’: Beijing backs Cambodia’s crackdown

     

Sweden said on Tuesday it was stopping new aid for Cambodia after the main opposition party was outlawed by the Supreme Court at the government’s request….. But Western donors have… Read more »