Is democracy really in danger?
How serious are the challenges to democracy today? One way to assess this is to examine historical experience, using the best global data available. Doing this paints a picture that is less dire than… Read more »
Category: Analysis
Kleptocracy and kakistocracy feed on each other
In a kleptocracy, criminal behavior is not individual, opportunistic, or sporadic, but rather collective, systematic, strategic, and permanent. It is a system in which all the high-level government officials are complicit, where… Read more »
How West can resist ‘long arm’ of China’s sharp power
China, not Russia, is the biggest threat to the United States in the decades to come, according to former secretary of defense Robert Gates who served the previous two U.S…. Read more »
West should not risk Europe’s ‘in-between’ states
To this day, many in the West see regional order through the lens of the democratic transitions in East Central Europe (ECE), say the authors of a new RAND paper on European… Read more »
21st Century Disrupter: Russia’s aggression reaches ‘new, destructive level’
Russia’s aggression against Western democracies has reached a new, destructive level, according to Robert Hannigan, the former head of the British intelligence service GCHQ (above). An official regulator may be… Read more »
President-elect vows to unite Colombia, amend FARC peace accord
Colombia’s President-elect Ivan Duque (left), who swept aside leftist Gustavo Petro in Sunday’s election, pledged to unite his South American nation after a divisive campaign but insisted he would change… Read more »
West Side Story: resolving Serbia-Kosovo line could end Balkans impasse
A correction of the de facto border – or “administrative line” – between Serbia and Kosovo could be the precursor to a comprehensive agreement on Serbia’s border disputes with Bosnia… Read more »
Democracy dividend vs. autocratic model in crisis
Democracy is under siege. But the evidence that democracy is good for growth doesn’t directly speak to whether democracy is easy to make work. Nor does it imply or maintain… Read more »
Iraqi militias, US ‘make nice’ following elections?
Many Shiite armed factions in Iraq haven’t been threatening the United States of late, especially since they fared so well in the May 12 elections, receiving the second-most number of… Read more »
‘Time for democracy to fight back’ against rising autocrats
The greatest risk to pluralism is in young democracies where checks and balances are not yet robust, the Economist reports. The weakening of a rules-based international order seemed inconceivable… Read more »