Category: Civil Society

Why authoritarians’ rise is ‘a global catastrophe’

     

Tragically, world institutions and organizations have failed to properly address authoritarianism. Western governments sometimes protest human rights violations in countries such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea — but routinely… Read more »

Romania: when the population turns against the populists

     

What happens when the population turns against the populists? Just such a drama is playing out in Romania, a country of 20 million people where hundreds of thousands have poured… Read more »

Ukrainians lack information about government strategy in occupied territories

     

Ukrainians do not receive enough information about the government’s strategy to address the crisis in the country’s occupied territories, according to a new survey of public opinion. “41.7% of respondents… Read more »

World entering an “illiberal moment,” a “post-truth, post-West, post-order” era?

     

The world may be heading into an “illiberal moment,” a “post-truth, post-West, post-order” era, characterized by democratic decline and growing support for authoritarian governance, the annual Munich Security Conference has… Read more »

Is Turkey heading toward autocracy?

     

A referendum in Turkey on April 16 will decide whether the country’s parliamentary system is replaced with a stronger presidency. This is something President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hoping for,… Read more »

Anti-torture group’s closure highlights Egypt’s civil society crackdown

     

Egyptian police on Thursday shut down the offices of an organization that treats victims of torture and violence in the latest escalation of a harsh government crackdown against human rights defenders and… Read more »

Governance critical to Syria’s post-conflict stabilization

     

The prospects for the removal of Syria’s Assad regime and a near-term transition to a “moderate opposition” are poorer than ever, according to a new RAND report. But there is… Read more »

Engage Russia, but ‘grand bargain with Putin is a terrible idea’

     

Advocates of engaging Vladimir Putin’s Russia should avoid fueling unrealistic expectations of a breakthrough and instead seek incremental progress on specific topics based on a set of guiding principles, says… Read more »

Ukraine’s leaders ‘giving up on reuniting the country’?

     

Ukraine’s leaders may be giving up on reuniting the country, The Economist reports: Most Ukrainians say the war in Donbas, as the region is known, is the country’s most important… Read more »

Russian activist poisoning ‘no doubt’ authorized by officials close to Putin

     

An exiled Russian Opposition MP has told the ABC he has “no doubt” the suspected poisoning of Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the country’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, was authorised by… Read more »