Category: Authoritarianism

Ideology underpins Iran’s rising axis of resistance?

     

The ideology underpinning the Iranian-led axis of resistance in the Middle East has evolved, according to Harvard analysts Payam Mohseni and Hussein Kalout. From a primarily state-centered enterprise, it has… Read more »

Blacklisting Muslim Brotherhood ‘may backfire’

     

Proposals to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood are raising questions about appropriate strategies to counter violent extremism, The Wall Street Journal reports: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular, is a strong supporter… Read more »

Low trust downgrades U.S. to ‘flawed democracy’ status, says EIU

     

The U.S. has been downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The group’s Democracy Index considers “60 indicators across five broad categories:… Read more »

Nobel laureate Alexievich quits ‘shameful’ Russian PEN

     

Russian PEN has dismissed Svetlana Alexievich’s decision to leave the freedom of speech organisation, saying she cannot quit because she has never been a member – prompting the Nobel prize… Read more »

West’s political and normative project ‘under fire’

     

Germany’s outgoing President Joachim Gauck on Wednesday used his final major address to emphasize the importance of a resilient democracy and robust security policy, DW reports. He called today’s Germany “the best… Read more »

Why defending democracy is no vice

     

Despite recent setbacks, there remain compelling moral and self-interested reasons to support democracy and human rights around the world, argues Michael McFaul, director of Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for… Read more »

How the forward march of democracy was halted

     

Twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War, and of the apparent triumph of American values and power, U.S. policymakers now confront the very basic question of which values… Read more »