Category: Analysis

A new front in Russia’s information warfare? Validity of Western democracy is primary target

     

  Russia is working on defensive measures to prepare for possible new sanctions from the United States and other countries, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, Reuters reports: U.S. and EU… Read more »

Can Europe step up on global democracy support?

     

The new U.S. National Security Strategy raises a number of questions, the Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer writes for TIME: How does the principle of “America First” square with plans to promote democracy… Read more »

Toxic cash: Russia’s ‘sovereign civil society’ program

     

By banning NGOs from receiving foreign funding, the Russian government has forced them to seek financial support at home. But state grants undermine civil society’s independence, notes Andrey Kalikh, a… Read more »

How to counter China’s sharp power? Ask Australia

     

This week’s Economist dedicated its cover story to the issue of China’s growing influence strategy, referencing the National Endowment for Democracy’s excellent report on Beijing’s “sharp power” strategies, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst… Read more »

Revisionist power’s disinformation finds fresh victims

     

Russia-linked hacking and information operations aimed at the US presidential election has overshadowed another related and important story: governments around the globe are increasingly using these same new digital tactics… Read more »

The lost opposition: Democracy dies in Venezuela?

     

As Venezuela falls into ever more tumultuous times, President Nicolás Maduro has tried to hit the final nail in democracy’s coffin. Now opposition parties are a thing of the past,… Read more »

R.I.P. Memorial’s Arseny Roginsky: fought to keep memory of Soviet crimes alive

     

Arseny Roginsky (left), a veteran activist who was chairman of the respected Memorial human rights society, has died after a life chronicling abuses and injustice in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet… Read more »

Why junking democracy promotion would be ‘a grave mistake’

     

Democracy promotion has become associated with some of America’s greatest foreign policy failures of the 21st century, and it is increasingly seen as an unaffordable luxury in a dangerous world,… Read more »

A ‘Sputnik Moment’? What to do about China’s ‘sharp power’

     

China is manipulating debate in Western democracies by employing “sharp power”, a term coined by the National Endowment for Democracy. “Soft power” harnesses the allure of culture and values to… Read more »