China’s Belt-and-Road push for global sway – renewed or ‘overhyped’?
As Chinese leader Xi Jinping landed in Myanmar on Friday he hoped to send a clear signal that his country is back in the driver’s seat. Having backed Myanmar, also… Read more »
Five transformations require ‘fresh thinking’ on advancing democracy
The thirty years since the end of the cold war have been a time of extraordinary change, notes Jessica T. Mathews, a Distinguished Fellow at (and former President of) the… Read more »
Gauging the geopolitics of Yemen’s civil war
War-battered Yemen could face the threat of famine again because of the rapid depreciation of its currency and disruptions to salary payments, a senior U.N. humanitarian official warned the Security… Read more »
Political competition between governance systems is ‘nothing new’
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping have established themselves as the world’s most powerful authoritarian leaders in decades. Now it looks like they want to hang on to those… Read more »
Survey reveals Georgians’ ‘alarming’ lack of trust in democratic institutions
Georgians’ trust in the country’s democratic institutions have been shaken by recent events, according to the results of a public opinion survey conducted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), in… Read more »
Grand strategy toward China needs ‘coalition of the democratic willing’
If it is not to lose its strategic struggle with China in Asia and globally, the United States needs to present an alternative model to Beijing’s authoritarian archetype, says a… Read more »
Fear and learning: Arab world not finished with democracy
A vibrant protest movement is visible in Iran and across the Middle East — but it isn’t calling for Islamic revolution, much less the tired misrule of the mullahs, The… Read more »
Putin’s ‘backhanded tribute to democracy’: A global template for new authoritarians?
Russian President Vladimir Putin named a new prime minister, who was confirmed (Reuters) one day after his predecessor resigned along with Russia’s entire cabinet. Putin also proposed changes (FT) in… Read more »
Melvin J. Lasky: ‘inspired anti-totalitarian discourse’
A true “friend of freedom,” Melvin J. Lasky would have turned 100 today, Marko Martin writes. His teenage anger over Western appeasement of Hitler and the blindness of his contemporaries… Read more »
Democracy Embattled: Towards ‘competitive decadence’?
America used to try to design the world, Russia used to try to sabotage those plans. Now things almost look the other way around, analyst Asli Aydintasbas observes. The decline… Read more »