Category: Dictatorships

Xi tightening grip on China’s civil society in effort to ‘institutionalize legitimacy’

     

Since becoming Chinese president in 2012, Xi Jinping has been tightening his grip on civil society, the military and competing political cliques. Now, as the Communist party prepares for the five-yearly… Read more »

Defending sovereignty vs. promoting democracy?

     

There was an echo of George W. Bush’s democracy promotion agenda in President Donald Trump’s address to the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly. But unlike Mr. Bush, this… Read more »

‘Like-minded’ dictatorships show solidarity at U.N.

     

  Why can’t the UN get more done to promote freedom? Council on Foreign Relations analyst Elliott Abrams asks. The answer is clear: so many member states are themselves dictatorships… Read more »

Beijing is exporting Great Firewall in effort to ‘tame’ Internet

     

Chinese authorities have detained a software developer for selling computer services that allow internet users to evade China’s “Great Firewall,” which blocks access to thousands of websites, from Facebook to… Read more »

Liu Xiaobo’s legacy will shape China’s future, forum told

     

China’s government should ensure that the law grants access to independent legal counsel and family members, as well as addressing the ill-treatment in detention and deaths in custody, the United… Read more »

Hun Sen jettisons last shreds of Cambodia’s democracy

     

Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister, has vowed to spend another decade in office, a day after his main opponent was charged with treason amid an escalating crackdown on dissent, The… Read more »

China’s crackdown another step toward ‘digital totalitarian state’?

     

China’s crackdown on human rights activists is the most severe since the Tiananmen Square democracy movement 25 years ago, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. Beijing is systematically… Read more »

UN: China blocks civil society activists, harasses experts

     

  Human Rights Watch says in a new report Tuesday that China has tried to intimidate, blacklist and squelch the voices of rights advocates who operate within the U.N. system,… Read more »

Video offers rare glimpse of Cuban ‘moderate’ leader’s hardline ideology

     

    The Cuban opposition movement will try to register more than 170 independent candidates for the upcoming general election, which begin in October. But they have almost zero chance… Read more »

China’s strategy to limit West’s global influence

     

  China is fashioning a new form of multilateralism with a strategy for the systematic displacing of institutions built on high ideals and values, such as free markets and democracy, notes… Read more »