Search Results for: development

China’s pre-Christmas crackdown raises alarm

     

A recent surge of police action against churches in China has raised concerns the government is getting even tougher on unsanctioned Christian activity, the BBC reports: Among those arrested are… Read more »

Clash of ideas key in political warfare against neo-authoritarians

     

Both Russia and China are governed by opaque, highly centralized and increasingly personalized governments. Political warfare, for such regimes, is second nature, according to Hal Brands, the Henry A. Kissinger… Read more »

Democracy under threat: risks and solutions in the era of disinformation

     

Populist politics and the distorting power of digital media are creating a “toxic brew,” that is poisoning democracy, says a prominent analyst. The “politics of resentment that we’re seeing in… Read more »

Georgia a ‘trailblazer for democracy in Caucasus’ or facing ‘uncertain future’?

     

Georgia “is a trailblazer for democracy in the Caucasus region” but it needs support from the West in order to maintain its liberal democratic trajectory, says president-elect Salomé Zourabichvili. “During… Read more »

Nigeria’s election: human rights on the agenda

     

On February 16, 2019, Nigeria will hold its first national elections since the nation’s peaceful transfer of political power in 2015. While pre-election assessments suggest positive developments by electoral stakeholders,… Read more »

Could democratic world feel the heat from Paris?

     

France is the latest European country to experience an upsurge of anti-elitist sentiment ripe for exploitation by populist or illiberal forces. The demonstrators known as gilets jaunes — “yellow vests,” named after… Read more »

China’s big-data authoritarianism a more dangerous adversary than Soviet Communism

     

Recent changes ushered into U.S. foreign policy could end up being highly consequential and may even resemble the Truman moment, when over a short period America dramatically changed its views of the… Read more »

Civic technology: defending democracy in the digital age

     

  Unless we take action, chatbots could seriously endanger our democracy, and not just when they go haywire, notes Jamie Susskind, a past fellow of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet… Read more »

Protecting democracy and human rights: still the indispensable nation?

     

Monday December 10 is International Human Rights Day. Is the United States still the indispensable nation when it comes to advancing democracy and protecting human rights defenders? After World War… Read more »

Iran on ‘upward trajectory’ strengthening ideological, coercive pillars of regime

     

The Islamic Republic of Iran is strengthening the security forces and religious institutions that constitute the two key pillars of the regime, says an Institute for International Strategic Studies analysis…. Read more »