The dramatic events in Iran following June’s fraudulent election have exposed a fundamental conflict within the ruling elite over the Islamic republic’s future, writes former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer. Does Iran seek openness or isolation, integration or destabilization?…

With the White House taking delivery today of a long-awaited report on Afghanistan strategy, analysts are stressing good governance as a critical factor in successful anti-insurgency prospects.

“The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a …

The landslide victory of the center-left Democratic Party of Japan ended a half century of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, marking “the evolution of the developed world’s only one-party state into a more normal democracy.”

The …

Executive Director:  Network of Democrats in the Arab World (NDAW)

NDAW seeks to empower young civil society activists, journalists, and bloggers, who advocate for democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The tasks …

September 1, 2009, 9:00am – 10:30am. Assessing the Afghan Elections.

On August 20, the Afghan people went to the polls to vote in the country’s second presidential elections since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Despite record …

Representatives of five European Union embassies visited the wife of jailed Cuban opposition activist Darsi Ferrer. Diplomats from Sweden, Britain, Hungary, Poland and Germany brought food and clothing to Ferrer’s wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, at her Havana home (hat …

Democracy and human rights activists have reacted with concern to Virginia senator Senator James Webb’s support for lifting sanctions and engaging the ruling military junta, fearing that his advocacy may influence the Obama administration’s ongoing Burma policy review. …

Authoritarian rulers are increasingly resorting to ostensibly non-political legal measures to neutralize opponents rather than manifestly repressive means. After initially appearing to nurture civil society after the trauma of Khmer Rouge rule, Cambodia is becoming an unfortunate case study of …

Morocco is frequently held up as a potentially promising case of incremental democratization – or at least liberalization – in the Middle East. But this New York Times article argues that pressure from Islamic radicalism is retarding genuine change. “Power …

Paul Wolfowitz also invokes the admonition to “do no harm” when it comes to democracy promotion. But he denies that a pragmatic, evolutionary approach amounts to realism, even in the Middle East, where compelling strategic interests compete with …