The problem with Cuba’s ‘new economy’
When Raúl Castro steps down as Cuba’s president in February 2018, he will hand off to his successor the unfinished task of reforming the economy, notes William LeoGrande, Professor of… Read more »
Author Archives: DemDigest
Dmitriev trial highlights brutal treatment of dissent
‘The Yuri Dmitriev case is, perhaps, the most important thing happening in Russia right now,’ says Jay Nordlinger. Dmitriev is a legendary researcher in Karelia, the region in northwest… Read more »
‘From Russia With Poison’ – the making of a disinformation campaign
Nearly a year after Election Day, Facebook’s role in our modern political infrastructure is finally coming into focus. But there is much more to know, The New York Times reports:… Read more »
Ukraine’s new generation of civic activists emerging?
Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau said Wednesday it had detained a deputy defense minister and another top military official for allegedly embezzling millions in state funding through an illegal oil-purchase scheme. The… Read more »
‘Meddle Kingdom’ rising: China and U.S. ‘neck and neck’ in foreign assistance
New research may suggest that Beijing has had a limited return on its investment in promoting its soft power and that pluralist democracies have an advantage in the field…. Read more »
Pluralist democracies have soft power advantage, says research
In a world first, researchers have found that a state’s soft power has statistically significant impact on foreign direct investment (FDI), overseas student recruitment, tourism, and international influence in… Read more »
Destined to collapse? North Korea’s Parallel Gulag
Is the North Korean regime destined to collapse? It is possible that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and perhaps even some subjects of his despotic rule, would rather be obliterated… Read more »
Ways to neutralize Russia’s disinformation (at least partially)
YouTube videos of police beatings on American streets. A widely circulated internet hoax about Muslim men in Michigan collecting welfare for multiple wives. A local news story about two veterans brutally mugged on… Read more »
How to confront growing authoritarian threats to democracy
The themes and leaders that would engage young people in politics are absent, the Forum 2000 Prague conference heard on Monday: Mainly in democratic countries, young people are not… Read more »
‘Gaping paradox’ at heart of Putin’s authoritarian rule
The director of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s Anticorruption Foundation (FBK), Roman Rubanov, was briefly detained and told to return to a law enforcement agency for questioning on October 13,… Read more »