Democracy ‘no longer the only game in town’
“Democracy is no longer the only game in town,” says Harvard political scientist Yascha Mounk. Mounk’s work first came to my attention this past summer, when he and Roberto Stefan… Read more »
Category: National Endowment for Democracy
Will Somalia election benefit Shabab?
Wednesday’s presidential vote is part of the rebuilding effort in Somalia, which was shattered by more than two decades of conflict and where clan loyalties still tend to trump policy… Read more »
Putin critic falls into coma
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a leader of the Russian opposition who has been a vocal critic of what he calls a Kremlin policy of assassinating political enemies has fallen into a life-threatening… Read more »
Autocracies fear ‘existential threat’ of democratic contagion
Think of two significant trend lines in the world today, writes Brookings analyst Robert Kagan. One is the increasing ambition and activism of the two great revisionist powers, Russia and… Read more »
What role for the United States in Venezuela?
As the economy continues to deteriorate—GDP shrank an estimated 19% last year and inflation hit 800%—there is little argument about the severity of the crisis in Venezuela. With dozens of political… Read more »
Learn the lessons of Russia’s creeping authoritarianism
A few hours before Vladimir Putin gave his 2014 new year’s speech, a shadowy group calling itself Shaltai Boltai — the Russian for Humpty Dumpty, the nursery rhyme character —… Read more »
N. Korea’s jangmadang markets raise questions of regime resilience
Anything to break the information blockade in North Korea should be encouraged, from USB drives containing foreign films to radios that can be tuned to news broadcasts from abroad,… Read more »
Romania corruption protests: government surrender or strategic retreat?
Is there any other country in Europe where the No. 2 politician (head of the Senate) and the No 3 politician (head of the Chamber of Deputies), who have just… Read more »
Latin America: democracy under strain
“We are at an interesting moment in modern history,” according to Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States. “There appears to be a growing appetite for populist politics… Read more »
How authoritarians consolidate
The murder in Yangon of Ko Ni (left), one of Myanmar’s most prominent Muslim voices and a legal adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, is ominous for the country’s democratic transition, The Financial Times… Read more »