Venezuela crisis prompts austerity in Cuba: three sad scenarios
Cuba is seeing a surge in tourism, helped in part by the arrival of Americans. But it is suffering economically, in part because of its reliance on fuel from Venezuela,… Read more »
Category: Analysis
Russia – poster child for electoral authoritarianism
Russia is the poster child for a type of governance termed electoral, or competitive, authoritarianism, analysts Erik C. Nisbet and Elizabeth Stoycheff write for The Washington Post: These autocratic governments… Read more »
Tunisia – lost in transition?
Tunisia has been a rare and extraordinary exception to the nearly universal culture of impunity across the Arab world, notes George Washington University’s Marc Lynch. Tunisians made transitional justice—the judicial… Read more »
Time to act on Azerbaijan
Earlier this year, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan looked like he was softening his authoritarian grip on his country, note David J. Kramer and Richard Kauzlarich. But since President Obama’s… Read more »
Illiberal international seeks ‘cultural counter-revolution’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, have proclaimed a counter-revolution aimed at turning the European Union into an… Read more »
Is the U.S. giving up on supporting democracy abroad?
Serious pessimism about democracy’s global fortunes as well as skepticism about the value and wisdom of democracy promotion have gripped Washington, argues Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies at the… Read more »
Final days of chavismo? Venezuela protests test Maduro’s grip
Venezuela’s opposition mounted fresh nationwide protests Wednesday to push for a vote on driving President Nicolas Maduro from power in the crisis-stricken country, AFP reports: A week after a mass… Read more »
Russia, Iran and Venezuela ‘may democratize by 2020’
The oil crash of 2014-2015 may trigger a wave of democratization in crude-exporting countries across the world, according to research from Renaissance Capital: The emerging market-focused investment bank based its… Read more »
North Korea will change only when it fears regime survival
North Korea will change its course only when international pressure could work in a way to make Pyongyang concerned about the very existence of its regime, a former U.S. diplomat… Read more »
Syria’s opposition unveils transition plan
Syria’s main opposition negotiating group would reject any deal struck by Russia and the United States on Syria’s fate that was very different from its own proposed transition plan,… Read more »