Category: Civil Society

Democracies need ‘new capabilities’ to counter information warfare

     

Democracies need to develop “new capabilities” to counter authoritarians’ information warfare, says a senior U.S. official. “We need to give renewed emphasis to the information environment,” said Andrew Knaggs, deputy… Read more »

Venezuelan opposition ‘testing military’s loyalty’

     

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today demanded Venezuela reopen a bridge on the Colombian border for an aid shipment organised by the opposition, the BBC reports: Venezuelan soldiers have… Read more »

Democracy in retreat: ‘ominous’ decline around the world, says Freedom House

     

Democracy is undergoing an ‘alarming’ decline around the world, according to the latest annual survey from Freedom House.* The country-by-country report – Freedom In The World 2019 – paints a… Read more »

Venezuela: ‘time for democratic transition is now’

     

Global support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó expanded Monday as a growing chorus of Western nations increased pressure on the authoritarian regime of cash-strapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Wall… Read more »

Russian efforts to subvert democracies demand counter info-ops campaign

     

  Vladimir Putin is committed to dividing and destroying the West’s democracies, according to a former confidante. From our conversations in 1992, I realized that Mr. Putin understood that it… Read more »

How Khomeini betrayed the democratic promise of the Iranian revolution

     

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini betrayed the principles of the Iranian revolution after sweeping to power in 1979, leaving a “very bitter” taste among some of those who had returned with him… Read more »

‘A Case of Irresponsible Asset Return’ benefits Kazakhstan kleptocracy

     

Following a year-long investigation, the Corruption and Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have published their full findings on Kazakhstan II, produced in collaboration with the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Kazakhstan II is… Read more »

‘Moscow on the Caribbean’: Can Maduro hold on to power in Venezuela?

     

University of Oxford Politics Lecturer Maryhen Jiminez Morales discusses expected changes for Venezuela on the global stage under the leadership of Juan Guaidó (above). Institutional desert Beyond billions in investments, Vladimir Putin is… Read more »

New bipartisan consensus on defending democracy, contesting authoritarians

     

Authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China see two main uses for international organizations: protecting their regimes and undermining Western values. That’s why they try to control and then corrupt them as much as possible…. Read more »