Category: corruption

Democratic renewal can counter ‘Ill Winds’ of autocracy and complacency

     

Larry Diamond has spent 40 years circumnavigating the globe promoting democracy in Nigeria, Venezuela and some 70 other countries. Yet today he is aghast, notes Gary J. Bass, a professor… Read more »

How democracies can exploit dictatorships’ soft, kleptocratic underbelly

     

The spread of kleptocracy, or “rule by thieves,” has harmed the poorest and most vulnerable populations worldwide most of all. But it also destabilizes entire regions, creating new fertile recruiting… Read more »

Russia’s ‘opposition at a distance’ as new civil society emerges?

     

The entire politics desk of one of Russia’s top daily newspapers, Kommersant, quit on Monday in protest over censorship after two veteran reporters were fired. The walkout at the newspaper controlled… Read more »

The Path Forward: how to liberate Venezuela

     

Despite profound dissatisfaction, extraordinary polarization, and a poor rating for President Nicolas Maduro’s performance, his regime “maintains a considerable base,” according to a national poll conducted last month by the… Read more »

Implacable Hostility: Russia’s response to Ukraine’s ‘stunning’ election

     

Russia is treating Ukraine and its newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, with the same implacable hostility as it did during Petro Poroshenko’s presidency, according to a leading analyst. The Kremlin… Read more »

Populism, polarization threaten Latin America’s democratic renewal

     

It was one of the greatest waves of democratization ever. In 1977 all but three of the 20 countries in Latin America were dictatorships of one kind or another. By… Read more »

Russia’s crony capitalism: from market economy to kleptocracy?

     

Russia’s main problem isn’t populism, but elitism in two basic forms, says analyst Emil Pain, the paternalist one in the state based on tradition and the “snobbish” version held many… Read more »

‘Dangerous backsliding’: radicals use Indonesia’s democracy to undermine it

     

  Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and former military general Prabowo Subianto will face off in a presidential election on Wednesday (Nikkei/CFR), with official results expected take up to a month to… Read more »

Anti-government protests in Montenegro, Serbia and Albania prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’

     

It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash… Read more »

Will a comic actor become Ukraine’s next President?

     

It seems that, on March 31, Ukraine once again received a chance to accelerate its transformation, notes Brookings analyst Sergey Aleksashenko. Ukraine hosted the first round of presidential elections, with 39… Read more »