Iran’s regime ‘facing fundamental test of legitimacy’
Iranians voted for a new parliament Friday, with turnout seen as a key measure of support for Iran’s leadership as sanctions weigh on the economy and U.S. pressure isolates the… Read more »
Category: Middle East/North Africa
Beyond Interests vs. Ideals? Advancing democracy in the ‘Arab Winter’
Tunisia’s interior regions have been a wellspring for social protests. Without deep economic restructuring, populists could pose an even graver threat to the country’s nascent democracy, argues analyst Hamza Meddeb…. Read more »
‘Nowhere To Hide’: Who’s proliferating digital authoritarianism?
Is China pursuing a grand strategy to systematically proliferate digital authoritarian tools? China’s efforts vary by country, local context, and its own interests, argues Steven Feldstein, Chair of Public Affairs… Read more »
Tracking conditions for citizen action in democratic transitions
While Tunisians remain committed to democracy, they are feeling the painful lack of economic and political progress, argues analyst Jake Walles. Tunisians generally describe the essential objectives of the 2011… Read more »
A catalyst for change in Iran?
Families of some protesters detained during the November unrest in Iran have been denied any information about them and fear they are dead, others who have been released say they… Read more »
Fostering resiliency for MENA civil society
The Gezi trial, where 16 civil society activists and human rights defenders face possible life sentences for attempting to overthrow the government, has been a “tragic case study of the… Read more »
Why did Egypt’s democratic transition fail?
On the ninth anniversary of the Tahrir Square uprising, the Project on Middle East Democracy* invited fourteen experts to respond to the question, “Why Did Egyptian Democratization Fail?” Forces within… Read more »
‘Powder keg’ or ‘pressure cooker’? Iran’s unprecedented legitimacy crisis
Iran’s president warned Monday of threats to the Islamic Republic’s “democracy and national sovereignty,” after a body dominated by his ultra-conservative rivals disqualified thousands of candidates, weeks before elections, AFP… Read more »
‘Signposts of Struggle’: Iran’s protest movement endures
Human rights sources have reported that detained Iranian protesters are under severe torture in the notorious Fashafuyeh Prison in Tehran by IRGC intelligence agents. The detainees have been subjected to… Read more »
Will ‘unprecedented protests’ end Iraq’s status quo?
Tens of thousands of Iraqis converged on Baghdad to rally against the presence of U.S. military in the country amid a surge of anti-American sentiment unleashed by the targeted… Read more »