China’s Great Firewall typifies the dictator’s dilemma
Days after a group of 22 nations signed a letter addressed to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling on… Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
Hungary’s illiberal victimhood narrative stifling freedom, limiting dissent
A change in control at Budapest’s 1956 Institute, prompted by Hungary’s illiberal premier Viktor Orban, is part of a wider trend of stifling academic freedom and limiting public dissent, creating… Read more »
Protest to politics? Lessons & narratives from Lebanon’s 2018 elections
Last year, elements of civil society ran against the established traditional political parties in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, drawing on the experience of the 2016 Beirut Madinati (“Beirut is my City”)… Read more »
The ‘authoritarian dynamic’ behind the rise of populism
Trust in democratic institutions to resolve conflicts fairly is at odds with the populist notion of democracy as the expression of the unified will of the one true people. Populist… Read more »
Pakistan’s military targets feminist icon
Gulalai Ismail is one of Pakistan’s best-known women’s rights crusaders, speaking out about forced marriages, gang rapes and crushed dreams. Her groundbreaking work has carried her around the world, winning her… Read more »
Strategic Competition: Is China winning the ideological battle?
Beijing’s new national security White Paper flags the fact that America and China are now competing superpowers, and that China’s growing military forces are developing to the point where they… Read more »
Models for democratic renewal & resilience in an age of uncertainty
Why and how do authoritarian leaders gain popular support? In his book, Threat to Democracy: The Appeal of Authoritarianism in an Age of Uncertainty, social psychologist Fathali M. Moghaddam argues that… Read more »
Russia’s civil society aims to prevent Putinism after Putin
An important test of civil society in Russia is unfolding on the streets of Moscow. It suggests that despite the authoritarian rule of President Vladimir Putin over nearly two decades,… Read more »
Hong Kong protests have unnerved ruling Chinese Communist Party
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests have unnerved the ruling Chinese Communist Party as it prepares to hold its an annual political retreat and as President Xi Jinping pushing high-tech security measures,… Read more »
Ukraine: potential for change – or will vested interests divert reform?
Now that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new party, Servant of the People, has won a majority in Ukraine’s parliament, the potential for real change exists. But it comes with the risk… Read more »