Author Archives: DemDigest

Human rights advocate killed in Ethiopian Airlines crash

     

  Democracy and human rights advocates are mourning the loss of Josefin Ekermann from the East Africa Regional Office of Civil Rights Defenders, the Stockholm-based  international human rights group. Three Austrian physicians. The… Read more »

Can repression stop new series of protests in the Arab world?

     

Algeria is only the latest country in the Arab world to manifest the symptoms of deep political malaise and corresponding public discontent, says Leslie “Les” Campbell, Middle East and North… Read more »

International Women’s Day: defending women’s rights against authoritarianism

     

Women’s Learning Partnership Promo 2019 (English) from Women’s Learning Partnership on Vimeo. A recent public hearing of the US House Intelligence Committee dealt with the threat of rising authoritarianism and… Read more »

Democracy fosters economic growth (but democratization is no walk in the park)

     

Democracy fosters economic growth, with researchers finding vast gains in productivity after countries democratize, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Research shows that when it… Read more »

Yes, the world is getting more populist: what liberal democrats can learn

     

Your perception is accurate….. The world is becoming more populist, according to a new research project by the Guardian and Team Populism. Professor Kirk Hawkins, from Brigham Young University in… Read more »

Cyber attacks could ‘taint’ democratic governments’ legitimacy

     

Cyber-attacks could turn elections into “tainted exercises” that undermine Western democracies, the foreign secretary has said. In a speech in Glasgow, Jeremy Hunt said authoritarian regimes view democratic elections as… Read more »

Ethiopia: reform needs assistance to overcome ‘stiff resistance’

     

After more than two years of protests, power changed hands in Ethiopia last April. Under the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia is shedding its reputation as a country that… Read more »

Iran’s power struggle ‘an opportunity for civil society & democratic forces’?

     

In historical examples of successful transitions to democracy, there has always been an alliance of democracy and civil society activists with centrists. The two must band together to prevent the… Read more »