How to target the Cubazuela axis
Cuban civil society and human rights activists are expressing concern over the fate of former political prisoner Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina. Four days ago, the freelance journalist and human rights… Read more »
‘Zeitgeist of deepening anxiety’ over democratic backsliding
Authoritarian resurgence is puzzling intellectually because the dominant theoretical paradigm during the past four decades has focused on explaining the drivers of democratic advance, not retreat, says a leading analyst…. Read more »
How to fix democracy
Democracy has many advantages, but its pitfalls include a tendency toward short-term return over longer-term interests, being reactive rather than proactive, and being geared towards internal competition rather than cooperation,… Read more »
Ukraine faces challenges of history and diplomacy
During the final days of January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky carried out two sensitive “working visits,” to Israel and Poland. They were connected with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of… Read more »
Why democracy is good for you — and vice versa
Midnight military coups and backroom deals did not bring strongmen to power in former democracies that have joined the ranks of the world’s autocracies. Everyday frustrations over high health-care costs,… Read more »
CCP ‘the central threat of our times’? Democracies must stand up to China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the Chinese Communist Party “the central threat of our times” on Thursday, even as he sought to talk up the prospects of a United… Read more »
Russian public shows appetite for change
In the past two years, the Russian public’s appetite for change has increased considerably. A small but growing group of Russians blame President Vladimir Putin for the country’s problems, and… Read more »
Ukraine on friction point between Russian authoritarianism & West’s democracy
Ukraine has overwhelmingly voted for fundamental change and is now led by people who are committed to making their country a modern democracy committed to liberty and the rule of… Read more »
The key to reviving democracy….
Any renewal of democracy requires political institutions to be “as inclusive as possible” through a reassertion of “democratic pluralism,” argues Michael Lind, author of The New Class War: Saving Democracy… Read more »
‘Maximalist campaigns’: How nonviolent uprisings succeed
Democracies are dying at the hands of elected authoritarian populists who neuter or take over the institutions meant to constrain them, notes Stanford’s Larry Diamond. Yet mass prodemocracy protests… Read more »