What Islamic exceptionalism means for democracy
Islam is exceptional in how it relates to law, governance and politics, and plays an outsized role in public life in the Arab world, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid… Read more »
Category: Democratic institutions
Sadr poll win highlights potential for non-sectarian politics in Iraq?
An Iraqi nationalist cleric who led two uprisings against US troops has taken a surprise lead in parliamentary elections, fending off Iran-backed rivals and the country’s incumbent prime minister, the… Read more »
Countering Gray Zone Tactics: Russia’s hybrid threats to Western democracies
Britain’s MI5 spy chief accused Russia on Monday on attempting to subvert Western democracies by sowing disinformation and spreading lies, Reuters reports. “The Russian state’s now well-practised doctrine of blending… Read more »
Which democracies are best combating Russian disinformation?
Some democracies are putting up more resistance than others to the destabilization campaigns coming from Russia, according to a new report from the think tank European Values, David Alandete writes for… Read more »
Potemkin elections an ill omen for global democracy
This week’s tsumani-sized election shock in Malaysia does not necessarily augur well for forthcoming electoral contests elsewhere, observers suggest. In less than two weeks, Venezuela will conduct the latest in… Read more »
Malaysia’s tsunami unseats ‘kleptocracy at its worst’
Breaking six decades of rule by the Barisan Nasional coalition, Malaysia’s opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, headed by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, won 113 of 222 parliamentary seats in yesterday’s poll…. Read more »
Information War by Other Means? From Cold War to Hot Peace
Facebook will require extra checks from people buying advertisements on political issues ranging from abortion and guns, to education and foreign policy, as the social network tries to make… Read more »
Why big data is killing western democracy – and aiding autocrats
Facebook, Google and the ‘big data’ revolution is undermining western democracy while strengthening the hand of authoritarian states to address the challenges thrown up the globalization, the Telegraph reports:… Read more »
‘No color revolution’: Armenians don’t deliver blow to Putinism?
In Armenia, a constitutional power grab backfired, says Chatham House analyst Laurence Broers. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan stepped down Monday amid large-scale protests against corruption and his rule, a move… Read more »
‘A different kind of propaganda’: has the West lost the information war?
When a Russian official at February’s Munich Security Conference proposed a joint initiative between Russia and the United States on cybersecurity, then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster replied, “I’m surprised there… Read more »