Author Archives: DemDigest

Democratic renewal will help the Free World ‘out of its defensive crouch’

     

Liberal democrats need to go on the offensive to counter the external authoritarians and internal illiberal forces undermining democratic institutions and liberal values, says a prominent commentator. Ideas have power,… Read more »

How modern authoritarians are breaking down democracy

     

  Modern authoritarianism has succeeded, where previous totalitarian systems failed, due to new strategies of repression, the exploitation of open societies, and the spread of illiberal policies in democratic countries… Read more »

How populism helped wreck Venezuela

     

What’s the problem with populism? After all, you could argue that populism is simply the promotion of popular ideas with which elites disagree, notes analyst Uri Friedman. You could think of it as a… Read more »

End of an illiberal populist era in Bolivia?

     

The illiberal populist regime of Bolivia President Evo Morales regime has sought to suppress voices of dissent within the media and civil society. One of the targeted journalists, Raul Peñaranda,… Read more »

‘Vibrant call’ for democratic renewal to safeguard liberal ideals

     

Democracies are becoming cynical, while the terrorist threat “offers boulevards to demagogues of all kinds,” writes Bernard Henri-Levy. “With youth no longer possessing a memory of the great struggles against… Read more »

How Xi Jinping plans to ‘make China great again’

     

Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” combines prosperity and power — equal parts Theodore Roosevelt’s muscular vision of an American century and Franklin Roosevelt’s dynamic New Deal, writes Graham Allison, the director… Read more »

Rif protests: Morocco’s Bouazizi moment?

     

Morocco’s authorities have carried out a chilling wave of arrests rounding up scores of protesters, activists and bloggers in the Rif, northern Morocco, over the past week following months of… Read more »

Principled Realism ‘ideologically handicapped’ in confronting Iran

     

  “Principled Realism” is no more likely than realpolitik to check Tehran’s clerical regime where it matters most, in Syria, according to a leading analyst. Such an approach “appears ideologically… Read more »