Category: Analysis

Paradox jeopardizes Ukraine’s transformation

     

Two years on from the protests that ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s revolution is confronting its central paradox: many of the leaders who emerged from it were veterans of… Read more »

Poland’s ruling party aims ‘to delegitimize liberal democracy’

     

  A pan-European rights body said on Monday it would review a newly amended Polish surveillance law, in a fresh challenge to the conservative government that reflects international concerns over… Read more »

Is global democracy in trouble?

     

Or does it just feel like it? PRI asks. “We’re not just talking about a recession of democracies, in terms of countries that are democracies. We’re talking about a recession… Read more »

US ‘deeply troubled’ by Russian moves to ban democracy group

     

  Russian authorities have launched investigations against an activist of Russia’s Parnas opposition party, Natalya Pelevina, RFE/RL reports. Russia’s Investigative Committee said the opposition leader being checked for her role in… Read more »

Iran trying to shut down UN Human Rights investigation

     

Iran executed nearly 1,000 prisoners last year, the highest number in two decades, and hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures languish in custody, a United Nations investigator said on… Read more »

Turkey’s Erdogan must reform or resign

     

Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has steadily descended into authoritarianism and instability, according to Mort Abramowitz* and Eric Edelman, both former U.S. ambassadors to Turkey, and… Read more »

China’s NGO law remains a work in progress

     

  It has been more than two years since the Chinese government proposed tighter controls on foreign nongovernmental organizations, prompting fears for the future of a wide range of groups active… Read more »

‘Unprecedented’ pressure on Russia’s opposition, as NDI deemed undesirable

     

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has declared the activities of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs to be undesirable in the latest of a series of measures designed to… Read more »

Moderates’ election gains ‘a setback to Iranian democracy’

     

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday hailed last month’s elections that saw gains for allies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, denying they lacked competition, AFP reports: The February… Read more »