Africa’s ‘engines of democracy’
By 2040—a decade before Africa’s population is forecast to reach 2.1 billion, or double what it is today—the continent will become majority urban. That means over a billion people in… Read more »
Tag: accountability
No democracy without accountability
Accountability is the cornerstone of a well-functioning democracy. In a well-functioning democracy, accountability refers to all the different ways that citizens, political parties, parliaments and other democratic actors can provide… Read more »
How corruption undermines democratic institutions
Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability, Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Civil Society Team Leader at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned the… Read more »
Was the Arab Spring a Black Swan event?
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 »
Advancing democracy at the root of American ‘exceptionalism’
The classic liberal internationalist vision of a global Pax Democratica lies at the root of American “exceptionalism,” according to Tony Smith, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Tufts University, and… Read more »
Human Rights, Accountability, & Access to Information in North Korea
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) from organizations interested in submitting Statements of Interest (SOI) for programs that support… Read more »
Civil society in post-Soviet space: legitimacy, linkage and learning
“Partly free” countries in the post-Soviet space must fight even harder now to protect growing civil societies, argues Orysia Lutsevych, the manager of the Ukraine Forum in London-based think tank… Read more »
Constitutional design: vital but insufficient for managing conflict
Institutionalized accountability is vital if constitutions are to be meaningful in preventing and mitigating conflict in Africa, says a leading analyst. African constitutions have increasingly relied on accommodative approaches (i.e…. Read more »