Category: Democratic institutions

Options for advancing democracy in a new international order

     

We may be facing the end of the West, with dictators and demagogues intent on destroying the international system, according to Harvard University’s Yascha Mounk. The Russian political class has… Read more »

Venezuela’s predicament goes from bad to worse, but opposition’s ‘hope is gone’

     

Five months of violent antigovernment demonstrations in Venezuela have dissipated and the epicenter in Caracas, Plaza Altamira, sits eerily quiet. The barricades that opponents once set up to slow government… Read more »

Solidarity founder Walesa fears for Poland – and Europe’s ‘flawed’ democracies

     

Almost four decades have passed since Lech Walesa faced down the communist regime at the Gdansk shipyard, and he says his fears of a backlash are now a reality in the… Read more »

Civil society manifesto pressing for DRC transition

     

The UN said on Tuesday that soldiers “forced entry” into its base in the volatile Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo aiming to arrest a journalist critical… Read more »

Russia’s refined disinfo ops keep it ahead of the West

     

  Russia’s continued refinement of its information operations may keep it ahead of the United States, according to a new analysis, Russia’s Improved Information Operations: From Georgia to Crimea. “One… Read more »

Non-state actors feed failing states, new global disorder

     

  Non-state groups from ISIS to transnational crime syndicates deploy an assortment of tactics and new technologies that strengthen their power to organize, mobilize, fight, and wield influence. As a… Read more »

Is Big Tech an ‘existential threat’ to democracy?

     

Are Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon becoming a threat to democracy?  The online tumult of the 2016 election fed into a growing suspicion of Silicon Valley’s dominance… Read more »

The Power and the Story: media’s claims on democratic legitimacy

     

  Journalism is in a delicate state in the world. The time at the turn of the century when it seemed to be secure in freedom, is gone. As June… Read more »

Strategic patience needed in Af-Pak stand-off

     

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary met China’s special envoy on Afghan affairs on Monday, a foreign office spokesman said, a day after Islamabad canceled a scheduled visit by a top U.S. official,… Read more »