Dictators’ dark secret: authoritarian learning
How did so many autocracies come to adopt the same anti-democratic strategies and repressive methods in the same decade? The Washington Post asks: The answers are difficult to find —… Read more »
Tag: #NationalEndowmentforDemocracy(NED)
‘A History of Violence’ drives Vietnam’s tightened public sphere
Civil society and human rights groups today issued an open letter to former US President Barack Obama to request assistance in calling for the unconditional release from jail of Obama… Read more »
A ‘hard break’ from China’s distorted narratives?
China has reportedly reached an agreement with Cuba to host an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island nation, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of Florida, in what… Read more »
Senegal’s ‘beacon of stability and democracy’ at stake
Senegal has shut down several of its overseas consulates including in Paris and New York after they were targeted by a fresh wave of protests that has rocked the West… Read more »
Is this the end of Tunisia’s democratic transition?
As democratic norms erode in Tunisia, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers wants to ensure proposed aid cuts don’t undermine the very civil society actors seeking to reverse the North African… Read more »
Decoding digital authoritarianism
Digital technologies hold tremendous potential to enhance societal wellbeing, including the protection and promotion of democracy and human rights, notes Harvard’s Ziyaad Bhorat. However, citizens, political leaders, and states are… Read more »
Russia turning Georgia vs. its people?
In Central and Eastern Europe, experience shows that democratization has better chances where linkages to the West are strong and ideological alternatives, such as Russian-style “managed democracy” or authoritarianism, are weak,… Read more »
Recommitting to human rights with actions — not words
Today, for only the fourth time since its foundation in 1949, the heads of state of the Council of Europe (CoE) will come together in Reykjavik, Iceland, note Amnesty International’s… Read more »
Addressing state media capture
For years, industry, governments, and civil society have grappled with how to address the potential harm from state media while protecting people’s right to information in the digital domain, note… Read more »
Does ‘democracy aid’ really promote democracy?
Does democracy assistance really help advance democracy? And, if so, what forms of aid are most effective? Employing the Varieties of Democracy Index, and OECD/DAC aid data from all donors… Read more »