The extent to which political and economic transitions evolve into ‘captured economies’ or ‘competitive markets’ matters enormously for whether transitions succeed, writes Daniel Kaufman. Yet international donors have largely ignored the deteriorating quality of governance in the Arab world, …

Residents of Senegal greeted the dawn of a new era today, according to reports, following the post-election departure of long-serving leader Abdoulaye Wade, who drew widespread praise for cementing the country’s reputation as West Africa’s most stable democracy.

The …

Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood appears set on a collision course with the country’s military and secular liberals, observers suggest, highlighting a potential strategic miscalculation behind the Obama administration’s controversial decision to waive Congressional rights criteria and release up to $1.5 …

Check out the Weekly update from Transitions, the group blog of the Democracy Lab channel, a collaboration between Foreign Policy and the Legatum Institute (glad to see Democracy Digest listed as one of their daily reads!)

Tom Finn profiles Yemen’s …

Despite the promise of the Arab Spring, democracy regressed across much of the world over the past year, according to a new survey of 128 developing and transitional states.

Growing social disparities and poor socioeconomic performance led to a marked …

The African Union has suspended Mali following a military coup, while the US has warned that the coup could jeopardize up to $100 million in aid.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council “decided that Mali should be suspended… until effective …

Cuba has long lost its revolutionary cachet as a socialist utopia, a new analysis suggests. In fact, with growing inequality and a shrinking, ageing—and emigrating population, it is “starting to resemble the rest of Latin America, but without political liberties,” …

The Obama administration today told Congress it will waive conditional democracy criteria to give up to $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt’s military despite the regime’s crackdown on pro-democracy NGOs and backsliding on democratic governance.

U.S officials and lawmakers said …

Cuba’s government has kept up a “permanent campaign of harassment” against peaceful dissidents calling for civil and political rights, according to a new report from a leading human rights group. The Vatican’s No. 2 today rejected claims …

The United Nations’ major human rights body today voted to extend the mandate of its investigator for Iran for another year. But the announcement that Tehran has purchased powerful new technology from China highlights the continuing threat to the country’s …