Category: National Endowment for Democracy

Russia’s election countdown: opposition pressured by Kremlin

     

Russia’s liberal opposition has been subjected to all kinds of pressure in the last few months, from leaked clandestine sex tapes to dubious court cases and physical violence. As parliamentary… Read more »

Reconfigure USAID for State-Building?

     

Washington’s top development agency needs to focus on building governments, not democracies, in chaotic foreign countries, according to Max Boot and Michael Miklaucic, respectively the Council on Foreign Relations’ Senior… Read more »

Venezuela’s civil society ‘rapidly deteriorating’ – OAS must act

     

Civil society is rapidly deteriorating in Venezuela. Once a prosperous oil producer, the nation is slipping into a state of chaos that is beginning to resemble Somalia. And things just… Read more »

Vice News, Jigsaw partner to empower free expression

     

The global struggle for free expression is the focus of a new partnership between Vice News and Jigsaw (formerly Google Ideas, the firm’s think tank and technology incubator). A new… Read more »

Growing support in Jordan for battle against IS

     

  More Jordanians support the fight against Islamic State extremists next door, but are increasingly dissatisfied with their country’s economy and political institutions, according to a poll by the International… Read more »

Homo Sovieticus mentality impeding democratic change in Post-Soviet space

     

The prospects of democracy in Belarus and Russia may be bleak, but pessimism is no excuse for inaction or apathy, according to Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. Vladimir Putin is able… Read more »

Internal discord over India’s NGO curbs

     

Days after the Home Ministry put three influential American donors under the “prior permission category” for allegedly funding NGOs in India not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA),… Read more »

Georgia’s reserve of democratic assets challenged by citizen disconnect

     

Georgia has an unenviable position in the Caucasus. Torn between Russia and the West, its people demand security and prosperity, according to the Stratfor intelligence group: The ruling Georgian Dream… Read more »

Russia: Same Game, New Tactics

     

For some observers, Vladimir Putin’s re-election in 2018 is a foregone conclusion; they see him as a virtual “president-for-life,” secure enough to ignore pressures that might force another leader to… Read more »