Category: Democratic Governance

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 »

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Ukraine ‘still involved in existential struggle’

     

After the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday, the country will likely be stuck with an oligarch-linked president yet again. The two presidential front-runners are Volodymyr Zelensky, a… Read more »

Cultural ‘retro backlash’ driving authoritarian populism

     

Cultural divisions and resentments are driving the rise of authoritarian populism across the Western world, according to a new book. Cultural backlash: Trump, Brexit, and authoritarian populism, by Pippa Norris… Read more »

Ukraine: from ‘oligarchic pluralism’ to real democracy?

     

A comedian and political newcomer has won (HT: Foreign Policy) the first round of Ukraine’s presidential elections. Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who portrayed himself as a fresh face who would… Read more »

Demotion, dilution, delay & diversion: strengthening digital resilience

     

Whatever the domestic repercussions of Robert S. Mueller III’s report, Moscow will likely continue its campaign of disinformation and disruption against American democracy, a prominent analyst tells the New York Times: Aleksandr… Read more »

What’s at stake in Ukraine’s election?

     

Ukraine votes for a president on March 31. Will the pro-Western incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, win? Or will he lose to his old foe, Yulia Tymoshenko, or wild card Volodymyr Zelenskiy?… Read more »

Will China’s plan for global supremacy spark a new Cold War? Not quite

     

Institutions of higher learning around the world should resist the Chinese government’s efforts to undermine academic freedom abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 21, 2019, Human Rights Watch published a… Read more »

Oligarchs ‘suffocating’ Eastern Europe’s democracies

     

Days before the hotly contested Ukrainian presidential election on March 31, incumbent Petro Poroshenko’s party faces credible allegations of voter bribery, notes Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia from 2004 until 2013…. Read more »

Third wave of global ‘autocratization’ may still be picking up

     

Conventional wisdom on democracy’s troubles is still taking shape, but it generally holds that a dozen or so countries have backslid in a global trend dating roughly to the global… Read more »