Is advancing democracy a moral foreign policy?
It is a mistake to conflate militarized forms of regime change with advancing democracy, observers suggest. The morality of a president’s foreign policy should be gauged on a rubric based… Read more »
Category: Analysis
China ramping up blueprint for digital totalitarian state
Chinese authorities are knitting together old and state-of-the-art technologies — phone scanners, facial-recognition cameras, face and fingerprint databases and many others — into sweeping tools for authoritarian control, according to police and private… Read more »
Conspiracy theories as counter-narratives: Should democracies adapt to disinformation?
A Russian-linked operation aimed at dividing Western allies spread disinformation on social media for three years, according to a new analysis, Bloomberg reports: Hundreds of accounts on multiple internet platforms… Read more »
Exposing the ‘dark reality’ behind Cuba’s medical missions
The U.S. says it is pressuring Cuba to end human rights violations such as harassment of opponents of Cuba’s one party system. It also wants Havana to stop supporting… Read more »
Iran’s totalitarianism, weak civil society could prompt ‘social explosion’
Prominent Iranian artists, inside and outside the country, have reacted to the brutal crackdown of recent protests in Iran, The Independent reports (HT:FDD). Amnesty International says Iranian authorities are continuing… Read more »
Will democracy crisis empower Latin America’s military?
Can Latin America’s elected civilian leaders regain the trust of their publics and deliver on the promises of democratic governance? Can militaries escape the pressures of stepping into power during… Read more »
‘Digital Trenches’: North Korea’s Information Counter-Offensive
The South Korean government should stop disengaging from ongoing human rights abuses by North Korea, a coalition of human rights and other groups said on December 16, 2019 in a… Read more »
A case for liberal democratic nationalism?
Viewed from today’s perspective, it seems clear that liberalism and nationalism are enemies. But that was not always the case. As recently as 1989, liberalism and nationalism were allies in… Read more »
Mobilizing for democracy? Five myths about protest movements
Lebanese security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters for a second straight day, ending what started as a peaceful rally in… Read more »
Why China’s TikTok is a national security concern
TikTok, the short-form video app that’s been downloaded 1.5 billion times, is one of the most exciting and goofiest places on the internet, and possibly the only truly fun social… Read more »