Democracy promotion has become associated with some of America’s greatest foreign policy failures of the 21st century, and it is increasingly seen as an unaffordable luxury in a dangerous world,… Read more »
China is manipulating debate in Western democracies by employing “sharp power”, a term coined by the National Endowment for Democracy. “Soft power” harnesses the allure of culture and values to… Read more »
Democracy’s ability to renew itself, to “put aside the habit of taking itself for granted,” gives confidence in democracy’s ultimate victory, said Thomas Mann, whose essay on “The Coming Victory… Read more »
Russian cyber-activists ‘tried to discredit the Scottish independence vote,’ the Guardian reports: Pro-Russian propagandists used Twitter, fake videos on YouTube and Facebook accounts to make and then spread false allegations… Read more »
The new U.S. National Security Strategy, due to be published on Monday, will address the challenge of resurgent “revisionist powers” and the more specific threat of the Kremlin’s subversive use… Read more »
Nine Hong Kong democracy activists have been banned from contesting seats in China’s legislature, the South China Morning Post reports. Elections to choose deputies to the National People’s Congress now… Read more »
The United States has called on Cambodia to reverse steps that “backtracked on democracy” before a general election next year, Reuters reports: “We are advising that these steps that… Read more »
To advocate true democracy in the Arab world is a tough sell at the best of times. In the wake of the “Arab Spring,” a half-decade that witnessed some of… Read more »
For a man in charge of a country in the grips of hyperinflation and on the verge of humanitarian crisis, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro seems peculiarly self-assured, the Financial Times reports:… Read more »
Ukraine’s civil society protesters are pushing for a “move from kleptocracy to democracy,” AP reports. If you ever want to feel inspired about what the United States is doing to combat kleptocracy –… Read more »