In battle of narratives, history is ‘dictator’s plaything’
A new official summation of Communist Party history is likely to exalt Xi Jinping as a peer of Mao and Deng, fortifying his claim to a new phase in power…. Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
Existential threat: Why Russia instrumentalizes conflict
Civil society groups in Central and Eastern Europe are wary of an imbalance between economic recovery and democratic development in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a position paper, the… Read more »
Egypt’s human rights raise issues of concern in strategic dialogue
Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken said on Monday that Egypt had more work to do on human rights as he met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry amid calls for… Read more »
Will Africa’s 2022 elections be seen as bellwethers for democracy?
African elections will be relatively scarce in 2022. But the few presidential elections that are due to take place will illustrate why Africans are frustrated by the gap between democracy’s… Read more »
21st century’s ‘fiercest fight’- to save democracy
Evan Mawarire, Marina Nemat and Wai Hnin Pwint Thon are among the many twenty first century’s freedom fighters — individuals who have risked their lives and liberty in a battle… Read more »
Democratic façade: Nicaragua’s ‘slow-motion horror movie’
“There is no democracy. Democracy has been demolished,” exiled Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro tells PBS’s Nick Schifrin (above). Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega easily locked in a fourth consecutive term… Read more »
Presidents for life? No, thanks!
At his first inauguration in 1986, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni famously blamed Africa’s problems on leaders who stay in power for too long, notes Boniface Dulani, director of surveys for Afrobarometer and associate professor of… Read more »
‘Specter of Venezuela’ fuels Latin America’s new right
Liberal democrats in Latin America now have to deal not just with an authoritarian left but with a right that is far more intolerant than in the recent past, the… Read more »
Demands for ‘real democracy’ drive historic age of protest
Democratic failure is the principal factor behind a tripling in the number of protest movements in less than 15 years, according to a new analysis released this week. “What these… Read more »
‘Illustrative Menu of Options’ will shape democracy summit
President Joe Biden’s administration is setting up a “global defamation defense fund” for journalists as part of his democracy promotion agenda, said Samantha Power, the US Agency for International Development… Read more »