Venezuela no longer a model nation
Venezuela was once a model nation, prosperous, advanced, democratic. Did Antonio Ledezma ever imagine that it could slide into tyranny and poverty — not just poverty but starvation itself? “No,… Read more »
Search Results for: strongmen
Time’s Persons of the Year – The Guardians and the War on Truth
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at his country’s Istanbul consulate, was on Tuesday, December 11, named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” alongside several other journalists under siege in… Read more »
‘Striking fragility’ in willingness to defend core democratic values?
The illiberal attitudes underpinning the populist upsurge in Europe are not unique to that continent, analysts suggest. There is a striking fragility in Americans’ willingness to defend core democratic values,… Read more »
The strategic case for advancing democracy
Democracy promotion can again become an important component of U.S. foreign policy if we re-consider the prospects for liberalism in the non-Western world, according to a prominent analyst. Non-Western liberalism… Read more »
‘One of the great freedom fighters’: John McCain, R.I.P.
Senator John McCain “was one of the great freedom fighters of all time,” according to a leading democracy advocate. “He was a champion of democracy wherever it was being… Read more »
Soviet collapse ‘echoes’ in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
China’s increasingly image-conscious government has appointed a trusted member of the ruling Communist Party to head up its international propaganda operation, AP reports: Former top internet regulator Xu Lin will… Read more »
Why the Prague Spring still matters
Fifty years on, there are still lessons to be learnt from the Prague Spring, the FT’s Tony Barber writes: The first is that doctrinaire ideologies and political practices, whether they… Read more »
Combating Disinformation: The Case for Stepping Up the Fight Online
Social media firms should establish “specialized Russian-focused teams” staffed with experts in Russian language, culture, and internet practices, according to a new report. “Combating Russian Disinformation: The Case for… Read more »
Will Mexico become one of Latin America’s democratic lights or authoritarian black holes?
The election victory of leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a boost to Mexico’s institutions amid a tough time for democracy elsewhere in Latin America, says analyst Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo)…. Read more »
Kleptocracy and kakistocracy feed on each other
In a kleptocracy, criminal behavior is not individual, opportunistic, or sporadic, but rather collective, systematic, strategic, and permanent. It is a system in which all the high-level government officials are complicit, where… Read more »