Egypt’s hollowed-out civil society
Authoritarian regimes are, in general, averse to a strong civil society. Egypt is no exception, notes Gamal Eid (left), an Egyptian lawyer and the director of the Arabic Network for… Read more »
Category: Authoritarianism
Recognizing and countering authoritarian resurgence
A new book is warning of an authoritarian surge around the world led by China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, who are using sophisticated methods to silence dissent and… Read more »
Russia must abandon ‘false democracy’ – Putin ally
Russia must “stop playing false democracy” in order to combat a “hybrid war” waged against it by the U.S., the chief of the country’s powerful Investigative Committee said. Russian… Read more »
Cuba minister calls Obama trip ‘an attack’ as Communists defend ideology
U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Communist-led Cuba was an “attack” on its history and culture aimed at misleading a new business class, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Monday,… Read more »
Corruption crisis highlights fragility or robustness of Brazil’s democracy?
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s government vowed on Monday to fight impeachment after the lower house of Congress delivered a humiliating defeat that paved the way for her likely removal from… Read more »
Russia should learn from China’s internet censorship, says official
The head of Russia’s Central Investigative Committee has urged the country’s officials to step up control of the internet, using China’s experience as a model to counter pressure from… Read more »
Resistance beats compliance to totalitarian temptation
“Watching the Moon at Night” raises fundamental questions about issues that continue to haunt the modern world, and it also records and presents the views of some leading intellectuals –… Read more »
Burma’s troubled transition
On April 5, Francis Fukuyama, Director of Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law held an interview with FSI Senior Fellow Larry Diamond on Burma’s recent… Read more »
Soft Power the Russian Way: Proxy Groups in the Contested Neighbourhood
Anxious about losing ground to Western influence in the post-Soviet space and the ousting of many pro-Russia elites by popular electoral uprisings, the Kremlin has developed a wide range… Read more »
The Crooked Timber of Humanity & the ‘death’ of liberal democracy
In Russia, and now in countries from Hungary to Poland, and in China, forms of authoritarianism are ascendant and liberalism (or even modest liberalization) are in retreat, Roger Cohen… Read more »