Category: Authoritarianism

Egypt’s Sisi seeks approval to ‘further institutionalize authoritarianism’

     

Egypt’s military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is in some ways trying to turn the clock back, restoring the six-year presidential term and exempting himself from term limits—which, by the way,… Read more »

Testing resilience: ‘democracy not in question – the way we practice it is’

     

Democracy is not in question, but the way we practice it is, according to a new analysis, which gathers available evidence for a European reality-check. “One of the many drivers… Read more »

‘Connectivity is the new geopolitics’: democracy at stake

     

Chinese tech giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are rapidly improving their artificial intelligence, challenging current U.S. tech leaders like Google and Amazon, Fortune’s Jonathan Vanian writes: China’s so-called BAT companies, as New York University… Read more »

Downplaying Islamism, regime aims to demobilize Iran’s ‘underground but still vibrant’ civil society

     

  The European Union decided on Monday to extend restrictive measures imposed against Iran to last for an additional year until April 13, 2020, due to “serious human rights violations”… Read more »

China’s foreign interference exposed – yet again

     

Beijing agents pressured two Chinese-Australian authors to provide information about a secret Canberra inquiry into Chinese meddling in domestic politics, local media reported Monday: Yang Jun, a novelist and democracy… Read more »

Anti-government protests in Montenegro, Serbia and Albania prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’

     

It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash… Read more »

Democratic renewal requires collective resilience

     

With this week’s election results, Turkish democracy demonstrated its resilience and vibrancy, and hinted at a future beyond populist and divisive politics, notes analyst Sinan Ülgen, a visiting scholar at… Read more »

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Confucius Institutes ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ of China’s sharp power

     

A documentary critical of China’s Confucius Institutes has had varied reception across the globe. Newsroom’s Laura Walters uncovers the story behind a cancelled viewing at the University of Auckland. In the… Read more »