Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister of 32 years’ standing, has experienced the benevolent embrace of both the west and China. But there is no doubt over Mr Hun Sen’s preferred… 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 »
The focus on political personalities, as opposed to the corrosive effect on government institutions and policymaking, has made it easier for populists to co-opt the fight against corruption, argues Eguiar… Read more »
Mongolia’s efforts to extricate itself from the “resource curse” highlight the dangers that countries blessed with tremendous natural resources face when they find themselves at the mercy of wealth-destroying… Read more »
Neither ‘Asian values’ nor any other form of regional exceptionalism can be invoked to justify authoritarian rule, President Barack Obama said in Laos today. “[D]emocracy can flourish in Asia because… Read more »
“We must always take sides,” said Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who passed away last week. “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence… Read more »
….. in Kuwait. North Korea has summoned dozens of workers from the Gulf state for staging a mass strike in protest at their working conditions, reports suggest: According to Radio Free Asia,… Read more »
Filipino voters backed Rodrigo “the Punisher” Duterte more to sock it to elites than to reinstall authoritarianism. This kind of bet is becoming increasingly attractive to electorates around the world…. Read more »
The upcoming US-ASEAN summit will include leaders – like Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 25 years – who were previously considered too ruthless and repressive to be received… Read more »
Today, few people are touting democracy in Southeast Asia as an example of political freedoms, notes Council on Foreign Relations analyst Joshua Kurlantzick. In Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and… Read more »