Governments should view civil society not as a threat but as an asset, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.
The authoritarian backlash against independent civil society groups was not only a violation of fundamental freedoms and international norms. Each time a journalist is silenced or an activist arrested, “it doesn’t strengthen a government, it weakens a nation,” [READ MORE]
“From a small and crowded office in a Seoul backstreet, Park In-Ho shines a light on one of the most closed and secretive nations on earth. His Internet newspaper Daily NK is one of about a dozen South Korean organizations collecting news about North Korea, through sources inside the hardline communist state [READ MORE]
Syria’s opposition has been receiving “significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States,” the Washington Post reports. But some observers fear that the supply of arms will boost radical factions at the expense of pro-democracy [READ MORE]
Europe’s neighbors have given a mixed response to the European Union’s incentives for democratic reform.
“While progress has not been universal, since last year, many partners have taken bold steps to accelerate their democratization and reform processes,” according to an annual assessment of the European Neighborhood Policy released yesterday. The report assesses the progress made in 12 neighboring countries, [READ MORE]
As a key institutional constraint on the exercise of arbitrary power, rule of law is considered a core component of democracy. But does legitimacy only reside in formal legal institutions?
In Tajikistan, the Young Lawyers Association “Amparo” is one of the leading civil society groups promoting human rights and rule of law, while in neighboring Kyrgyzstan groups like [READ MORE]
Two years on from Thailand’s most violent political conflict since pro-democracy protests against military rule in 1992, the authorities have failed to arrest or charge any soldier or official in connection with at least 90 fatalities and over 2,000 injuries incurred in the “Red Shirts” protests, rights groups said today.
The resilience of the political [READ MORE]
Persevere.
That is the one word of advice that Burma’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi offered today for activists striving for freedom in an age witnessing what a former US president calls “the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism.”
“Persevere,” she said. “You’ll get there in the end, knowing [READ MORE]
Georgia’s Rose Revolution of 2003 signaled the beginning of a new era for the former Soviet Union Republic. The triumphant new political elite, headed by President Mikheil Saakashvili, vowed to establish a democratic state characterized by respect for human rights, a corruption-free government and a functioning market economy seeking integration with Europe and eventual EU membership.
Yet Georgia is a [READ MORE]
China’s hardline chief of domestic security has been forced to relinquish control of the country’s police, courts and espionage networks in the wake of the Bo Xilai affair.
The demotion of Zhou Yongkang (right) is “a symptom of the ideological struggle” within the ruling party, say observers:
Senior party members and political analysts, who [READ MORE]
The Arab League has postponed a Syrian opposition conference planned for Cairo this week after the Syrian National Council, the leading exiled coalition, threatened to boycott the meeting. Observers say the cancellation is the latest indication of the international community’s inability to engage the divided and dysfunctional opposition.
“When it comes to influencing Syria’s bloody struggle between President Bashar al-Assad [READ MORE]
Former Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar (left) was granted bail today but will remain hospitalized following a 10-day hunger strike to protest his imprisonment on – charges in a case his British lawyer has condemned as “Soviet stuff.”
The probe “reflects political jockeying ahead of next month’s parliamentary election, according [READ MORE]
An ally of President Vladimir Putin is pushing to become Russia’s de facto deputy leader, marginalizing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Reuters reports.
The news coincides with reports of a rejuvenation of Russia civil society after some 10,000 protesters staged a mass “stroll” through central Moscow a week after a violent police crackdown on demonstrators criticizing Putin’s return [READ MORE]
Today marks Vietnam Human Rights Day but that’s little consolation for Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activist Nguyen Quoc Quan, currently imprisoned in the New Hanoi Hilton,
The Communist is preparing new legislation to stifle dissident bloggers, the latest initiative in what Human Rights Watch has called an intensified wave of repression over recent months.
On Capitol Hill, the Tom Lantos [READ MORE]
Have recent events taken the gloss off the China model?
With up to 1,000 Filipino demonstrators expected to march today on China’s consulate in Manila to protest Beijing’s aggression in a maritime territorial dispute, the regime’s much-vaunted soft power is also looking fragile.
But the spat may rebound to the ruling elite’s advantage.
There are promising signs that democracy is “budding in what may prove to be a Pakistani Spring,” says a leading analyst. But a former envoy to the U.S. believes the democratic revival following the 2008 elections has been marred by “political infighting and judicial activism on every issue except [READ MORE]
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