Category: Analysis

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Confucius Institutes ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ of China’s sharp power

     

A documentary critical of China’s Confucius Institutes has had varied reception across the globe. Newsroom’s Laura Walters uncovers the story behind a cancelled viewing at the University of Auckland. In the… Read more »

Generalissimo Sisi: Egypt’s President for Life?

     

  The Egyptian parliament is in the process of finalizing amendments to the 2014 constitution (right) that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in office for twenty years,… Read more »

Ukraine ‘still involved in existential struggle’

     

After the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, the country will likely be stuck with an oligarch-linked president yet again. The two presidential front-runners are Volodymyr Zelensky, a… Read more »

How did Armenia pull off a democratic revolution?

     

For Armenia, a Russian ally, a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and once regarded as increasingly autocratic, the 2018 Velvet Revolution was a remarkable achievement, writes Eurasia Democratic Security Network… Read more »

To defend liberal order, Western democracy must compete with alternative models

     

We are witnessing an intellectual transition to a worldview that is in equal parts “naïve, dangerous and ahistorical,” scholars Hal Brands and Charles Edel argue in a “brilliant” new book,… Read more »

Cultural ‘retro backlash’ driving authoritarian populism

     

Cultural divisions and resentments are driving the rise of authoritarian populism across the Western world, according to a new book. Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism, by Pippa Norris… Read more »

The lost art of diplomacy for democracy

     

Diplomacy may be one of the world’s oldest professions, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood, says William J. Burns, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and… Read more »