“All across the region governments, non-governmental organizations, groups and individuals are utilizing social platforms to impact their societies – politically, culturally and socially,” writes Arianna Huffington.

She cites various examples, including the case of Egyptian democracy advocates using the …

If being caught between democracy and dictatorship is an affliction for the Caucasus as a region, Chechnya’s post-Soviet history is an especially personal tragedy for Ilyas Akhmadov.

Formerly a sergeant major in the Soviet army, he fought in the First …

Why does the “confusing, heterogeneous, endlessly demanding” Caucasus matter?

Because these are the “lands in between … between the Black and Caspian seas, Europe and Asia, Russia and the Middle East and, more recently, democracy and dictatorship”, according …

China holds the dubious distinction of being a world leader in developing innovative methods for controlling citizens’ access to information, write Arch Puddington and Chris Walker. But few are familiar with its “equally pernicious” efforts to export its censorship …

China’s communist authorities continued their vitriolic denunciation of today’s Nobel Peace Prize award to jailed democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo.

With the recipient in prison, his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest, and his two brothers denied permission to leave …

Is the Obama administration poised for a diplomatic triumph?

While violence and uncertainty still haunt southern Sudan in the run-up to next month’s referendum, a successful poll will justify the U.S.’s patient engagement.

It will also demonstrate that it is …

Can one be for democracy in some states and against it in others?

Not in principle, writes Leon Wieseltier, since universalism is integral to democratic and liberal values.

But he confesses to some “moral embarrassment” over his anxiety at …

Tensions are rising in Sudan in advance of next month’s referendum on independence for the country’s south. The vote was agreed as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended the decades-long civil war between the largely Arab and Muslim …

Today’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to honor jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo confirms that there is a “moral minimum” of rights and values shared by all nations and civilizations, writes Václav Havel.

In a letter to this year’s laureate, published …

A “volatile cocktail” of resentment and insecurity threatens Nigeria’s fragile democracy, the country’s foreign minister said today.

Endemic corruption, poor governance and weak institutions continue to plague Africa’s most populous state, some fifty years after winning independence from British colonial …