Why China’s propaganda efforts backfire
A journalist who had worked for some of China’s most powerful propaganda outlets has been jailed for 15 years after being accused of attacking the ruling Communist Party, AFP reports:… Read more »
Tag: Open Democracy
Pestilential ‘battle of narratives’ a return to ideologies?
Surely among the strangest and least expected outcomes of the Great Pestilence is that the country that hatched the virus looks as though it will now enjoy the technological and… Read more »
Iraqi protests signal emergence of ‘new civil society’
Dozens of demonstrators were killed across Iraq on Thursday and Friday as violent protests against government corruption swelled into a mass spontaneous uprising sweeping much of the country, the worst… Read more »
How Kazakhstan’s transition is playing out
Kazakhstan’s dictatorship appears to have all of the necessary institutions in place to facilitate a smooth transition after Nursultan Nazarbayev. The regime is set up to benefit from the presence of… Read more »
Impatient dictators: ‘How to Rig an Election’
Authoritarian states are using all-too familiar constitutional mechanisms to consolidate power, according to activist-journalists Tamara Grigoryeva and Ismail Djalilov. Across Eurasia, snap elections happen rather frequently, they write for Open… Read more »
Media capture: how toxic mix of money and power undermines journalism
What kind of media, political parties and politicians do we need to re-connect with citizens? political scientist Georgios Kolliarakis and Open Democracy’s Rosemary Bechler ask. Is the problem… Read more »
Is Tunisia’s democracy being derailed?
Over the course of just one week, the Tunisian government has made three concerning moves that, taken together, signal a major backsliding in its democratic development, Carnegie analyst Sarah Yerkes writes… Read more »
Is Western democracy ‘threatening suicide’?
The decline of Europe’s center-left has allowed populists to make inroads, which is a problem for democracy, argues Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College and… Read more »
Why democracies fail to deliver
Is democracy the only kind of political system that can deliver on prosperity and stability? asks Alina Rocha Menocal, a senior research fellow in the politics and governance programme at the Overseas… Read more »
Ukrainian civil society ‘gearing up’ to counter patronalistic regime?
The appointment of former U.S. ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker (right) to be special representative to Ukraine could breathe some much-needed life back into the drive for peace, whose momentum… Read more »