Taking stock of Burkina Faso’s democracy
Last week, Burkina Faso seemed a bright spot in the troubled Sahel region of Africa. Little known and rarely discussed, the country found its way into international headlines after… Read more »
Category: Civil Society
Populist discord threatens democracy
Pick an adjective to describe the current political mood—angry, anxious, populist—and one thing about the descriptor is certain: It will fit the atmosphere on both sides of the Atlantic equally… Read more »
Algeria: transition on hold
While Algeria escaped the worst excesses of the Arab uprisings, the multiple challenges that it has confronted in the past five years since those events remain unchanged, notes John P…. Read more »
Russians ambivalent on democracy, civil liberties?
Russians are more concerned about economic and political stability than democracy, according to a new poll conducted by the Levada Center: The poll asked 1,600 Russian respondents to rank issues they viewed… Read more »
Rights groups call for restraint in wake of Morocco protests
Morocco should refrain from violence against teacher-trainee protesters and investigate an incident during which Moroccan police attacked and beat peaceful teacher-trainee protesters earlier this month, causing dozens of injuries,… Read more »
Azeri protests highlight political risks of oil price fall
Azerbaijan is to impose a 20 per cent tax on taking money out of the country, as the oil-dependent government scrambles to respond to a currency collapse that has triggered… Read more »
‘Iranian Spring’ or hard-liners consolidating power?
Two Iranian poets who face lashings and prison sentences have fled Iran in a rare escape for local artists and activists ensnared in an ongoing crackdown on expression in… Read more »
Alexey Navalny’s very strange form of freedom
The strangest thing about Alexey Navalny is that he is walking around Moscow, still, Masha Gessen writes for The New Yorker: Here is what has happened to the other men… Read more »
Democracy’s continuing struggles
After the end of the Cold War, experts who closely studied trends in democratization believed that democracy was destined to sweep the globe. But predictions of democratic triumph did… Read more »
Civil resistance in the Arab Spring: what went wrong?
The overriding lesson of the abortive Arab Spring is that getting rid of a dictatorial and corrupt ruler is not enough. Building democratic institutions, and restoring confidence in a flawed… Read more »