How Cambridge Analytica’s psychological warfare subverts democracy

     

A British TV station broadcast video Monday apparently showing the head of the data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica, talking about using bribes, traps involving sex workers and other unethical tactics to swing… Read more »

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Authoritarianization: understanding Duterte’s rise to power

     

Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte’s rise can’t be understood in isolation, argues analyst Richard Javad Heydarian. It has to be situated within a broader context of how populism takes root in… Read more »

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Can Saudi Arabia help win ‘Islam’s War of Ideas’?

     

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in Washington, D.C., March 19-22, the third stop on his first foreign trip as crown prince, notes the Project on Middle East Democracy: Mohammed… Read more »

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The ‘fascist’ philosopher inspiring Russia’s kleptocrats

     

An advocate of Russian fascism is having a profound influence on the discourse of the country’s politicians and kleptocrats,* including Vladimir Putin, according to a leading commentator. Because Ivan Ilyin (left)… Read more »

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Data’s threat to democracy: civil society’s soft power ‘can counter disinformation’

     

Is our personal data safe? And might it be used by individuals, companies or governments to influence the democratic process? BBC media editor Amol Rajan asks: These are the two… Read more »

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Who will pick up the democracy promotion mantle?

     

It is not surprising that liberty has enemies. The tragedy now is that the defense of liberty is absent where it should be vibrant, argues Stein Ringen, a visiting professor… Read more »

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Springtime for autocrats: the new caudillos

     

  Liberal democracy is threatened by populism of both left and right, according to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “For the first time in my life I am anxious… Read more »

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Will post-election Putin intensify conflict with the West?

     

If you want to know what might keep Vladimir Putin from a good night’s sleep after his expected landslide reelection as president of Russia on Sunday, there’s no better place… Read more »

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A Brezhnev moment: ‘coronation’ takes Putin a step closer to leader-for-life

     

  With his reelection, Vladimir Putin took one step closer to becoming Russia’s leader for life.  On paper, Putin’s victory gave him a new six-year term as president. But some… Read more »

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In era of geopolitical uncertainty, Lithuania inspires

     

Lithuania celebrated the 100th anniversary of its independence and democratic statehood on February 16, an exercise that showed the country’s understanding that it must keep its democracy vibrant and forward-looking, notes… Read more »

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