Why Colombia voted ‘No’ on peace referendum
A Colombian peace deal that the president and the country’s largest rebel group had signed just days before was defeated in a referendum on Sunday, leaving the fate of a… Read more »
Zimbabwe pastor shows ‘Power in our Pockets’
When he posted a protest video on Facebook, wrapping himself in the national flag, the Rev. Evan Mawarire (below, right) became one of Zimbabwe’s first social media stars, the embodiment… Read more »
Azerbaijan: authoritarian constitutions send a signal
Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president of 13 years, is often described as a “strongman” who enjoys near absolute power over the oil-rich nation on the Caspian Sea, The Financial Times reports:… Read more »
Mining company faces fresh bribery allegations in Congo
An alleged international bribery scandal enveloping a listed Australian mining company has dramatically widened, with new evidence suggesting the firm may have bribed Congo‘s Mines and Geology Minister as well… Read more »
Dealing with Africa’s autocratic regimes
There have been concerns that democratization is not happening fast enough in Africa, but Julia Leininger, an expert on African Politics from the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik)… Read more »
Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows – Deadline Extended!
Dedicated to international exchange, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program offers five-month fellowships to leading democracy activists, journalists, and scholars from around the world. During their time in residence at the National… Read more »
Why autocrats root for an isolationist U.S.
There is a reason why the world’s illiberal and authoritarian forces are rooting for a more isolationist U.S. foreign policy, says Josef Joffe (above), editor of Die Zeit in Hamburg… Read more »
Neo-Maoist Xi consolidates power, cracks down on activists, Tibet
A year before a Communist Party conclave that could decide who will eventually replace him as China’s next leader, President Xi Jinping is maneuvering to reduce the power of a… Read more »
Russia’s ‘uncivil society’
On Wednesday evening, Anton Belikov, an artist and lecturer at Moscow’s Surikov Academy of Arts, walked through an exhibition of photographs documenting the war in eastern Ukraine, and threw paint… Read more »
Promoting labor rights in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is one of the rare developing countries in the region that has had in place, by law, a pension and social safety net for workers. But a recent… Read more »