The West is now rudderless. To be rudderless puts you at the mercy of elements. The elemental forces of politics today are tribalism, populism, authoritarianism and the sewage pipes of… Read more »
Only 4.5% of the world’s people live in a “full democracy,” but the global democratic regression at least paused in 2018, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence… Read more »
Bangladesh security forces have been arresting and intimidating opposition figures and threatening freedom of expression in advance of national elections on December 30, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today: The… Read more »
Larry Diamond of Stanford University has argued that liberal democracy has four necessary and sufficient elements: free and fair elections; active participation of people, as citizens; protection of the… Read more »
The United States needs a new national security strategy to prevent the spread of extremism in fragile states, say Rep. Lee Hamilton and Gov. Thomas Kean, co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission. They led… Read more »
The United States must remain engaged in the struggle for democracy as a global leader, not only for moral, but also for national security reasons, according to a new report…. Read more »
Few NATO summits have captured the attention of this one—but for all the wrong reasons, according to analysts Julianne Smith and Jim Townsend. Any distraction from what will be a substantive NATO agenda… Read more »
There is little prospect of a Russo-American ‘grand bargain’ or rapprochement, even if Vladimir Putin visits Washington, in part because the US will not abandon democracy promotion, a RUSI analysis suggests: Russia unsuccessfully pushed for… Read more »
The Arab Spring surely satisfies the three criteria for a black swan event: surprising, historically consequential, and rationalized by hindsight, notes the World Bank’s Elena Ianchovichina, author of Eruptions of… Read more »
The quality of worldwide democracy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years, with much of the decline occurring in free societies where some governments rule with… Read more »