The Arab awakening has yet to produce a genuine revolution, writes Hussein Ibish in this guest blog, and it is unlikely to do so unless political actors embrace a more liberal, inclusive concept of citizenship. While the region’s Islamists may have accepted democratic institutions and practices, even moderates amongst their ranks promote a staunchly illiberal, stunted idea of [READ MORE]

One of Burma’s leading ethnic insurgent groups called for peace talks today, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for ending a boycott of parliament, but some analysts fear the standoff may have played into the hands of military hardliners eager to sabotage the fragile reform process.

“Disarray in the reform process will only [READ MORE]

Does a new strategic partnership agreement with the US augur well for Afghanistan’s fragile democracy and civil society?

The document pledges US financial support through 2024 and commits Washington to defending Afghan democracy and empowering civil society. But former US envoy Zalmay [READ MORE]

Is Vladimir Putin planning to reform or revise Russia’s sovereign democracy or more likely to consolidate his power vertical?

A leading strategy group this week cautioned that authoritarian consolidation in Russia is one of the ten leading threats to global prosperity, but observers questioned the Kremlin’s commitment and capacity to implement the modernizing reform needed to stave off a [READ MORE]

“If Aung San Suu Kyi is elected to Burma’s parliament on Sunday, the world will inevitably ask: Has Asia’s Nelson Mandela finally met her F.W. de Klerk?” says Timothy Garton Ash. “Or, if you prefer a European comparison, has Asia’s Václav Havel met her Mikhail Gorbachev?”

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says this weekend’s by-elections will be [READ MORE]

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 rights and democracy advocates.   

The U.N. Human Rights Council voted [READ MORE]

Is Egypt’s ruling military preparing the ground for a Russian scenario?

Some observers believe the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is deliberately weakening indigenous democrats, encouraging illiberal forces and trying to ensure that the public equates democracy with instability and insecurity, with the intention of eventually provoking a clamor for the return of authoritarian rule.

And it is doing so, [READ MORE]

The death of Muammar Gadhafi ends a chapter of despotic rule but is also likely to sound the gun for a race for power in a state lacking many of the norms and institutions needed to ensure a peaceful political transition.

“Years of tyranny and dictatorship have now been closed,” said Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the National Transitional [READ MORE]

Wangari Maathai (right), the Kenyan environmental activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died on Sunday.

She founded the Green Belt Movement to protect Kenya’s threatened forest by paying poor women a small sum to plant trees, but the organization expanded to address [READ MORE]

The Obama administration should pressure Bahrain’s government to initiate democratic reforms and uphold human rights standards, writes Thomas W. Lippman, “by sending a high-level official to Bahrain to raise concerns both publicly and privately, exploring options for moving the Fifth Fleet, and conducting a thorough investigation into the dismissal of Bahraini workers.”

“The unrest that erupted in [READ MORE]