China’s foreign interference exposed – yet again

     

Beijing agents pressured two Chinese-Australian authors to provide information about a secret Canberra inquiry into Chinese meddling in domestic politics, local media reported Monday: Yang Jun, a novelist and democracy… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Anti-government protests in Montenegro, Serbia and Albania prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’

     

It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

India’s democracy: cause to be ‘resolutely optimistic’?

     

Recent events in India have provided good reasons to worry for those who admire the country’s secular political traditions and cherish its democratic freedoms, the FT’s Victor Mallet writes in… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Regime crackdown fails to silence Iran protests

     

The global campaign to free Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh is gathering momentum, as a regime crackdown fails to silence protests. More than 600,000 have signed a petition calling… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

‘Ordinary Heroes’: post-conflict reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina

     

A huge fireworks display and subsequent cultural-entertainment program in Sarajevo attended by dozens of Bosnian officials, were a subtle sign of Beijing’s growing imprint on the region, RFE/RL’s Alan Crosby… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Why real ‘fake news’ threatens democracy

     

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg welcomed government regulation of content on the Internet in several areas, including “election integrity.” Around the world, there are increasing concerns that “fake news” threatens democracy,… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Democratic renewal requires collective resilience

     

With this week’s election results, Turkish democracy demonstrated its resilience and vibrancy, and hinted at a future beyond populist and divisive politics, notes analyst Sinan Ülgen, a visiting scholar at… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Confucius Institutes ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ of China’s sharp power

     

A documentary critical of China’s Confucius Institutes has had varied reception across the globe. Newsroom’s Laura Walters uncovers the story behind a cancelled viewing at the University of Auckland. In the… Read more »

Print Friendly, PDF & Email