Iran’s regime ‘facing fundamental test of legitimacy’
Iranians voted for a new parliament Friday, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran’s leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and U.S. pressure isolates the… Read more »
Category: Civil Society
Democratic resilience – new directions for civil society support
The acquittal of civil society activist Osman Kavala followed by his absurd rearrest shows the abysmal state of rule of law and democracy in Turkey, notes analyst Marc Pierini. The… Read more »
Renewing Democracy in the Digital Age
The scholar Hélène Landemore, a professor of political science at Yale, has spent much of her career trying to understand the value and meaning of democracy and trying to solve… Read more »
Beyond Interests vs. Ideals? Advancing democracy in the ‘Arab Winter’
Tunisia’s interior regions have been a wellspring for social protests. Without deep economic restructuring, populists could pose an even graver threat to the country’s nascent democracy, argues analyst Hamza Meddeb…. Read more »
The ‘Great Online Convergence’: Digital authoritarianism comes to democracies?
Russian civil society continues to dismantle pro-Kremlin disinformation, using both laughter and journalistic investigations. February has been a good month for those Russians who want to push back against pro-Kremlin… Read more »
How to protect democracy from cyber attacks
Growing cybersecurity threats are disrupting democracies and relationships around the world, the Truman National Security Project observes.* Democracies are particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks which can target institutions directly,… Read more »
China’s ‘biological Chernobyl’ exposes absurdities of autocracy
The death of Li Wenliang has shaken China like an earthquake. He was a young doctor who was reprimanded by Chinese police for alerting colleagues to a new virus that has… Read more »
Magnitsky sanctions will protect free media, says report
Officials and prosecutors who arbitrarily detain journalists or impose blanket restrictions on free expression should be subject to a new regime of targeted international sanctions, according to a panel report… Read more »
‘Nowhere To Hide’: Who’s proliferating digital authoritarianism?
Is China pursuing a grand strategy to systematically proliferate digital authoritarian tools? China’s efforts vary by country, local context, and its own interests, argues Steven Feldstein, Chair of Public Affairs… Read more »
Tracking conditions for citizen action in democratic transitions
While Tunisians remain committed to democracy, they are feeling the painful lack of economic and political progress, argues analyst Jake Walles. Tunisians generally describe the essential objectives of the 2011… Read more »