Category: Democratization

Ukraine’s democratization a strategic priority to counter Russian influence

     

Supporting Ukraine’s democratization is a strategic priority in efforts to counter Russian influence, observers suggest. Ukraine has contended with enormous challenges since the Maidan, and has made real progress. Ukrainians… Read more »

Upgrading support for Armenia’s post-revolution reforms

     

Armenia’s “velvet revolution” is one of the “positive breakthroughs” of the last year to confirm w that “democracy has enduring appeal as a means of holding leaders accountable and creating… Read more »

Venezuela: beware the ‘dark side’ of negotiated transitions

     

Will a negotiated settlement resolve Venezuela’s political standoff? Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has endorsed a proposal to amnesty to the military if it repudiates the Maduro regime and facilitates a restoration of… Read more »

Why Democracy Is So Hard to Build

     

Today’s pessimism about democracy is both historically unwarranted and self-defeating; it undermines the optimism necessary to sustain the struggle ahead, argues Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard… Read more »

Venezuelan opposition ‘testing military’s loyalty’

     

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today demanded Venezuela reopen a bridge on the Colombian border for an aid shipment organised by the opposition, the BBC reports: Venezuelan soldiers have… Read more »

Democracy in retreat: ‘ominous’ decline around the world, says Freedom House

     

Democracy is undergoing an ‘alarming’ decline around the world, according to the latest annual survey from Freedom House.* The country-by-country report – Freedom In The World 2019 – paints a… Read more »

Remembering Nadia Diuk

     

  In the days since Nadia passed, the National Endowment for Democracy has received an incredible outpouring of messages of condolence and remembering, said NED President Carl Gershman, delivering a… Read more »

Intell chiefs warn of ‘coming ideological battle’ with resurgent authoritarians

     

  Liberal democracies should prepare for “the coming ideological battle” with newly resurgent authoritarian powers, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee heard on Tuesday. “China and Russia are more aligned than… Read more »

‘Revolution in Ruins’: Venezuela ‘on brink of lasting change’

     

In less than a month, Juan Guaido has gone from a virtual unknown in Venezuelan politics to the country’s most-watched figure, assuming the presidency of the opposition-controlled congress and briefly… Read more »

Ukraine honors democracy advocate Nadia Diuk

     

Remarks – Nadia Diuk – Ukraine’s Convoluted Transition from National Endowment for Democracy on Vimeo. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has honored Nadia Diuk (above), Senior Advisor at the National Endowment for… Read more »