Obama’s visit to Cuba – civil society speaks
On the occasion of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba, independent civil society groups issued a rare joint statement: The visit to Cuba of Mr. Barack Obama, President of… Read more »
Category: Democratic Transitions
Cubama: a ‘new day’ or a ‘slap in the face’ for U.S.-Cuba relations
Change is coming to Cuba, President Barack Obama told his Cuban counterpart today, after Raul Castro called on the U.S. to lift longstanding trade and other restrictions as part of… Read more »
Democracy in retreat?
Despite the current democratic regression, there are three reasons why democracy advocates should maintain hope for the future, says Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy. The first… Read more »
Democracy in the Arab World: Still a Mirage?
More than five years after the Arab Spring began, the euphoria that accompanied the region’s early uprisings has been replaced by a dogged realism, notes RAND analyst Seth G.Jones. From the indignant graffiti… Read more »
Obama Doctrine – pendulum swung too far?
For any believer in the trans-Atlantic alliance, liberal interventionism and the overall beneficence of American power, President Obama’s long exposition of his foreign policy to Jeffrey Goldberg in The… Read more »
Renewed confrontation in Georgia?
European Union membership “is a historical choice” for Georgia, according to Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze (above). “We are not a country which just decides to join blocs,” he told… Read more »
The Obama Doctrine: from ‘democratic messianism’ to ‘passive progressivism’?
Experience has taught President Barack Obama to temper his idealism with a pragmatic, realist approach to foreign policy, leading him to reject liberal Democratic interventionism. Yet he remains a democratic… Read more »
Russia – a ‘hollow superpower’
Vladimir Putin was losing legitimacy even before the economy shriveled [but] with action in Ukraine and Syria, he has made it appear that Russia is the equal—and rival—of America, The… Read more »
Autocracies Failed and Unfailed: strategies for ‘good enough governance’
Successful democratization attempts depend mostly on the interests of local elites, Stanford University’s Stephen D. Krasner argues in Autocracies Failed and Unfailed: Limited Strategies for State Building, the third of the Atlantic… Read more »
Paradox jeopardizes Ukraine’s transformation
Two years on from the protests that ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s revolution is confronting its central paradox: many of the leaders who emerged from it were veterans of… Read more »