Fighting Terrorism: The Democracy Advantage
Against the background of a global surge in terror covering most of the last decade and a half, and contrary to popular hype, a consolidated, high-quality democracy is increasingly proving… Read more »
Category: Analysis
What the Iran protests were not
Iran’s most significant protests in almost a decade may have calmed, but anger that fueled the nationwide demonstrations lingers and could erupt again at any time, according to experts. Siavush… Read more »
Anti-democratic forces have ‘no alternative to a liberal international order’
Despite the threat posed to democracy by various forms of populism and authoritarianism, “there is simply no grand ideological alternative to a liberal international order,” argues Princeton University’s G. John… Read more »
How corruption undermines democracy
Democratic polities are undermined “when the virus of illicit finance, hidden in the secret channels of the global financial network, infects a democratic system that depends on trust to survive,”… Read more »
Growing backlash as China turns soft power into sharp tool
Australia has launched a scathing attack on China’s efforts to build influence in the Pacific, accusing Beijing of currying favor with the region’s smaller nations by funneling cash into little-used… Read more »
Democratic model still excels against all alternatives
Democracy has taken some hard hits. But before we cede bragging rights to autocrats, or persuade ourselves of the need for precipitate action to arrest a perilous strategic slide, we… Read more »
Tunisia protests highlight trade-off between democracy and strong economy?
One person has died, 50 policemen have been injured and more than 200 people arrested in two nights of widespread and violent protests across Tunisia, driven by anger over steep price… Read more »
The deterioration of Cambodia’s ‘python regime’
The optimism I sensed in Cambodia in 2015 was cautious at best, notes analyst Martha Bayles. But among young people, at least, it was contagious enough that, when rumors began… Read more »
Ukraine: civic progress, partial reform
Four years after the 2013–2014 Euromaidan uprising, a mass mobilization in which approximately 20 percent of Ukraine’s population either protested against the government or supported the protesters, Ukrainian civic activists have… Read more »
Egyptian colonel jailed after announcing presidential bid
An Egyptian army officer was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday after announcing his intention last month to run in the country’s 2018 presidential election, his lawyer and… Read more »