The Czech Republic’s successful transition from communism to democracy would not have been possible without the activists who provided a courageous voice in favor of political and intellectual freedom and… Read more »
Pakistan, often in the headlines for terrorism, coups and poverty, has developed something else in recent years: a burgeoning middle class that is fueling economic growth and bolstering a fragile… Read more »
The resurgence of authoritarian powers and the emergence of “populist and nationalist forces” in democratic states have prompted a deterioration of democracy and growing threats to civil liberties, U.S.-based watchdog… Read more »
Unlike neighboring Arab Spring states that have been consumed by violent extremism, civil war and resurgent authoritarianism, Tunisia actually managed to build a vibrant democracy. A new poll from the International Republican… Read more »
Despite recent setbacks, there remain compelling moral and self-interested reasons to support democracy and human rights around the world, argues Michael McFaul, director of Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for… Read more »
Mário Soares, a pivotal figure in Portugal’s transition from dictatorship to democracy who as prime minister led his long-impoverished country into the European Union, died Saturday. He was 92 years old,… Read more »
In Ukraine, revolution and reform has given way to reaction, with vested interests entrenching themselves even further, notes Sergii Leshchenko, a Ukrainian journalist and a member of the Verkhovna Rada. Today,… Read more »
Do ‘Grand Bargains’ help facilitate democratic transitions? At the time, the Helsinki Accords of 1975 did not seem like a game-changer, notes Edward Lucas, a senior editor at The Economist…. Read more »
U.S. support for democracy and human rights in the Arab world has varied over time, and presidential administrations have too often preferred dealing with autocrats to supporting their critics, notes… Read more »
The Arab world’s new generation – 60 percent of the population is under 30 years old – is “the largest, the most well educated and the most highly urbanized in… Read more »