Category: Civil Society

Egypt (and MENA): ‘worst may be yet to come’

     

On the five-year anniversary of Egypt’s Rabaa massacre, some human rights groups say the country has not done enough to address the human rights issues demonstrated in the killing, RFE/RL… Read more »

Why the Prague Spring still matters

     

Fifty years on, there are still lessons to be learnt from the Prague Spring, the FT’s Tony Barber writes: The first is that doctrinaire ideologies and political practices, whether they… Read more »

Can Romania recapitalize trust in democracy?

     

Fifty years on from the crushing of the Prague Spring and almost 30 years after the 1989 revolutionary upheaval, Eastern Europe is experiencing a vicious return to authoritarianism, according to… Read more »

Russian ‘mood swing’? High level of dissent ‘points to trouble for Putin’

     

Economic conditions for most Russians are about to get much worse, say analysts [HT: Paul Goble]. That makes grim reading for the Kremlin alongside news that Vladimir Putin’s personal support hit… Read more »

Orban’s Hungary offers a ‘glimpse of Europe’s demise’?

     

At a bucolic border post, Western-trained Hungarian counterintelligence agents recently got word that a known operative of Russia’s foreign spy service was driving into Hungary, and asked headquarters for permission… Read more »

Tunisia: How to Keep Democracy on Track

     

Tunisia’s seven-year-long transition to democracy has been excruciatingly difficult, marked by several terrorist attacks, ongoing economic crisis, political stalemate, and tenuous compromises between Islamists and secularists. At several points since the overthrow of… Read more »

Can Poland’s ‘authoritarian turn’ be stopped?

     

Poland’s populist Law and Justice Party appears intent on imposing quasi-authoritarian control over its unruly democracy, analyst Max Boot writes for Commentary.   A new draft Law on Higher Education… Read more »

To integrate Islamist parties, invest in civil society

     

If Egypt’s liberal activists had tolerated Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi’s illiberal but weak rule until he could be voted out, democracy might have had a chance, David D. Kirkpatrick suggests… Read more »

Zimbabweans disillusioned by post-poll crackdown

     

  The jury remains out as to whether Zimbabwe’s recent election had achieved the promised clean break with the past of the Mugabe era, says Freedom House’s Michael Abramowitz. Any… Read more »