Arab world needs democracy, not ‘liberalizing autocrats’
In April Jamal Khashoggi gave a speech, saying the dangerous idea of the benevolent autocrat, the just dictator, is being revived in the Arab world, notes The New York Times…. Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
How to bring back rule of law in Sisi’s Egypt
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s Egypt is a dangerous place for dissidents. Under Sisi’s command, the military and security forces used extraordinary violence to consolidate power in the summer of 2013 that cost… Read more »
DRC elections: benchmarks for a peaceful transition
Less than two months away from presidential, legislative, and provincial elections, Congolese civil society and political actors have yet to build consensus on key technical aspects of the electoral process,… Read more »
The Right to Memory: ‘excessive demonization’ of dictator?
Historians say millions of Soviet citizens were executed, died in labor camps or were starved to death under Josef Stalin’s dictatorship. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that “excessive… Read more »
Corroding Latin America’s largest democracy ‘from the inside out’
An authoritarian-seeming partial outsider who praised the country’s military dictatorship, rejects some rules of the democratic game and threatens to undermine citizen’s rights has won the first round of the Brazilian… Read more »
Russia retards democratic progress on freedom’s frontlines
The outgoing deputy head of the monitoring mission to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says newly compiled statistics prove that lack of political will is… Read more »
Democratic renewal needs fight for liberty
Liberal democracy is in crisis around the world, besieged by authoritarianism, nationalism, and other illiberal forces. Far-right parties are gaining traction in Europe, Vladimir Putin tightens his grip on Russia… Read more »
Elections in MENA and the Western Balkans: what impact?
The Transatlantic Leadership Network (TLN) is a new think-and-do tank organized and registered as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C. The network will engage international scholars, government officials, parliamentarians,… Read more »
‘Revisionist power’ China: authority is not authoritarianism
The December 2017 National Security Strategy description of China (along with Russia) as a “revisionist power” is consistent with a critique that many in the foreign policy establishment have voiced… Read more »
Values vital to resisting Putinization
Saudi Arabia’s apparent killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is an unmistakable sign that U.S. foreign policy has swung too far away from its roots in promoting American values abroad, The Washington… Read more »