Author Archives: DemDigest

Strategic Reset for NATO? Check alliance’s anti-democratic members

     

Few NATO summits have captured the attention of this one—but for all the wrong reasons, according to analysts Julianne Smith and Jim Townsend. Any distraction from what will be a substantive NATO agenda… Read more »

Arab populism succeeds where civil society fails

     

In this year’s key parliamentary elections in Iraq and Lebanon, formerly controversial populist figures performed far better than expected and are playing central roles in the scramble to form governments,… Read more »

AI prompts new competition: digital authoritarianism vs. liberal democracy

     

Artificial intelligence will reshape the global order, says analyst Nicholas Wright, who predicts a new era of competition between digital authoritarianism and liberal democracy for Foreign Affairs: Some countries are… Read more »

Russia leads ‘growing authoritarian international’

     

When Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up to the podium at the opening match of the 2018 World Cup, he assured the world that Russia is “an open, friendly and hospitable country,”… Read more »

Democratic backsliding: slippery slope of hostility toward media

     

On an unprecedented scale, authoritarian regimes are employing “sharp power” tactics to manipulate the very institutions that serve as the foundation of democracy, such as free media, says Christopher Walker,… Read more »

Crisis in Nicaragua: resolution in sight?

     

Nicaragua’s embattled president Daniel Ortega has attacked pro-democracy protesters engaged in an 11-week student-led uprising as “hate-sowing coup-mongers” and appeared to rule out early elections in a defiant public address,… Read more »

Disinformation vital to autocrats’ sharp power repertoire

     

Russian intrusions into democratic institutions around the world have been in the spotlight for some time. But as a recent letter from a bipartisan group of US senators warns, China… Read more »