Category: Authoritarianism

Could big data destroy liberal democracy?

     

Data is the new source of political power, Yuval Noah Harari tells NPR. He explains his worries that big data and AI technology threaten to destroy liberal democracy in a… Read more »

Liberal democracy’s weaknesses pulling it apart?

     

Brazil’s election, along with the rest of the populist trend, represents something more disruptive than a single wave with a single point of origin. Research suggests it exemplifies weaknesses and… Read more »

After Khashoggi: end Saudi impunity, free Raif Badawi

     

For the past few weeks, the world has been riveted by the story of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and murder. But while global attention is focused on Khashoggi’s fate,… Read more »

Digital authoritarianism grows, net freedom declines, democracy ‘withers’

     

Democracy is “withering” under the influence of growing digital authoritarianism, with China especially culpable for its efforts to export its Great Firewall of internet censorship, a watchdog group warned today…. Read more »

Managed Confrontation: policy takes aim at illicit Russian cash

     

The financial sectors of the UK and other Western democracies “have helped to facilitate the authoritarianism and systemic corruption that blights Russia,” according to a new analysis from Chatham House,… Read more »

‘Rogue actors’ making digital technology incompatible with democracy

     

  The internet is the technology paradox writ more monstrous than ever. It’s a nonpareil tool for learning, roving and constructive community-building. But it’s unrivaled, too, in the spread of… Read more »

Voters prepared to trade democracy for security?

     

The crushing victory of right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro in Sunday’s runoff presidential election was in large part due to the electorate’s security concerns and anxiety over political instability, observers suggest…. Read more »

Bellingcat – ‘a thorn in the Kremlin’s side’

     

The investigative website Bellingcat has found itself at the heart of some of the Kremlin’s touchiest affairs over the last few years—starting with the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern… Read more »

Iranian Repression: Architects of Human Rights Abuse in the Islamic Republic

     

“While representing political prisoners in the Soviet Union 45 years ago, I noted that ‘vacation time in the West is prison time in the Soviet Union,’ with the regime imprisoning… Read more »