Category: Authoritarianism

After Khamenei: stable transition depends on Iran’s deep state

     

As Iran gears up for a leadership transition, it is important to see the Islamic Republic for what it is, and not what one may hope it can be, note… Read more »

Arab civil society crucial for democracy

     

Popular protests against corruption and curbs on freedom of expression are indications of the increasingly authoritarian rule of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, observers suggest. A Palestinian author is hiding in an… Read more »

Russia Beyond Putin: Is fundamental change possible?

     

Is fundamental change in Russia possible? Would it overhaul the system, or modify or improve it without transforming it? And if change were to occur, will it necessarily be change Western… Read more »

Egypt’s social activism – ‘resilient and evolving’

     

Democracy and human rights advocates expressed disappointment by the warm embrace offered to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Washington this week, despite his crackdown on civil society, but many were… Read more »

Backing Belarus, Russia protesters is morally justified — and strategically smart

     

The European Parliament has expressed concern over the “new wave of repression” in Belarus, which includes raids on raids on civil society organizations and “preventive” arrests of opposition members before the protests…. Read more »

New monitoring tool shows shrinking civic space

     

While many rights groups have raised concern over the global decline in democracy, we have not had a compete, global picture of the levels of respect for civic space –… Read more »

What’s gone wrong with liberal democracy – Fukuyama

     

What has gone wrong in liberal democracies around the world since the 1990s when they seemed so triumphant? NPR asks Francis Fukuyama (above), Mosbacher director of Stanford’s Center on Democracy,… Read more »

Populism’s false promise could ‘reinvigorate liberal democracy’

     

The resurgence of populism has disrupted the post-Cold War political order and raised the prospect of instability in Europe and Eurasia, according to Nations in Transit 2017, the 22nd edition… Read more »

Egypt’s is the ‘worst counterterrorism strategy ever invented’

     

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi will be celebrated in Washington on Monday as a major ally in the fight against terrorism and radical Islamic extremism, as well as a supporter… Read more »