Where the Soviet system was rigid, today’s autocrats are flexible and pragmatic, writes Freedom House analyst Arch Puddington: Where the older generation of communists were bureaucratic and slothful, today’s dictators… Read more »
The irony is that in the century since the Russian Revolution, the “soft” democracies have endured, and the communist system that has collapsed. But the inheritors of the NKVD mantle—the… Read more »
The Chinese government has been trying to sell the country itself as a brand—one that has the ability to attract people from other countries in the way that America does… Read more »
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny today declined Moscow city authorities’ proposal to hold an anti-corruption rally on 26 March in the Lyublino or Sokolniki districts of the capital, instead calling… Read more »
Stephen Purvis loved Cuba and his job as development director with one of several small foreign firms that were setting up as the country sought international partners following the collapse… Read more »
Populism and political extremism has been on the rise for years, especially in Europe, with both left and right wing authoritarians gaining in popularity, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank…. Read more »
East Timor is voting for a new president in an election that will test Asia‘s newest and poorest nation, VOA reports. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s ongoing crackdown against opposition politicians and… Read more »
For civic activism, it appears to be both the best and worst of times, argues analyst Richard Youngs. The positive dynamics of empowerment and the negative trend of constraints on… Read more »
The U.S. is threatening to withdraw from the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council if it does not undertake “considerable reform,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned a group of nine… Read more »
In the face of an illiberal upsurge, the European Union is lacking leadership, while the election victory of Marine Le Pen would mean the end of the European project, says… Read more »