There has been a sharp uptick in the number of Jordanians who are pessimistic about the country’s trajectory, and increased support for closing the borders to Syrian refugees, according to… Read more »
While the resurgent authoritarians of Russia and China are investing in the expansion of soft power, that of the Western democracies is dwindling, analysts suggest. The European Union’s approach to… Read more »
Unlike neighboring Arab Spring states that have been consumed by violent extremism, civil war and resurgent authoritarianism, Tunisia actually managed to build a vibrant democracy. A new poll from the International Republican… Read more »
The argument for liberalism and democracy has rested on economic success. More wealth for more people has been generated in societies calling themselves liberal, democratic, and capitalist, notes Zachary Karabell,… Read more »
The ideology underpinning the Iranian-led axis of resistance in the Middle East has evolved, according to Harvard analysts Payam Mohseni and Hussein Kalout. From a primarily state-centered enterprise, it has… Read more »
Proposals to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood are raising questions about appropriate strategies to counter violent extremism, The Wall Street Journal reports: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular, is a strong supporter… Read more »
Russian PEN has dismissed Svetlana Alexievich’s decision to leave the freedom of speech organisation, saying she cannot quit because she has never been a member – prompting the Nobel prize… Read more »
Since the mid-1990s, when an estimated one million people died from starvation or hunger-related illnesses during the famine that plagued North Korea, jangmadang (private markets) have emerged as a critical means of… Read more »
Despite recent setbacks, there remain compelling moral and self-interested reasons to support democracy and human rights around the world, argues Michael McFaul, director of Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for… Read more »
The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web in the 1990s was greeted as a moment of liberation and a boon for democracy worldwide, notes Francis Fukuyama, a… Read more »