A “Right to Assist” could help prevent violent conflict and ease democratic transitions. But several important questions remain unanswered, argues Council on Foreign Relations analyst Stewart M. Patrick. Despite the… Read more »
The overriding lesson of the abortive Arab Spring is that getting rid of a dictatorial and corrupt ruler is not enough. Building democratic institutions, and restoring confidence in a flawed… Read more »
Civil society activism in Africa can sometimes seem like an exercise in empty sloganeering: “mobilizing the grassroots”, “empowering the youth”, and so on, The Economist observes: Not in Sudan, where… Read more »
As the war in Ukraine enters yet another phase with the coming Ukrainian offensive, it is clear that China is positioning itself to benefit from the outcome regardless of which… Read more »
A court in Belarus on Thursday sentenced a reporter for the now-closed local edition of one of Russia’s most popular newspapers to three years in prison for insulting the country’s… Read more »
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former adviser and Soviet-era dissident Gleb Pavlovsky (above) died on Monday at the age of 71 after a prolonged illness, Reuters reports. An influential figure in… Read more »
Sudan’s civil society has secured a major victory by pressuring the military leadership and other political groups to agree to a transitional constitution document, Yousef Bashir writes for Carnegie’s Sada… Read more »
The killing of the daughter of philosopher Alexander Dugin — a man often referred to as “Putin’s brain” because of his reported influence over the Russian leader — in a… Read more »
There are three Ukraine scenarios which currently seem most likely, argues FT analyst Gideon Rachman: The first — which is both the most tragic and the most probable — is… Read more »
Successful democratic transitions are not driven by specialist pro-democracy NGOs, but by ‘durable’ groups such as labor unions which address everyday, mundane needs rather than compete for political power, research… Read more »