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By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
The testimonies of former prisoners provide a rare insight into the nature of repression in North Korea, according to Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland. Their analysis – Repression and Punishment in North Korea: Survey Evidence of Prison Camp Experiences – features in a useful Bookforum round-up of recent insights into the world’s most repressive regime, [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, communist regimes |
By Michael Allen on March 5, 2010
A North Korean factory worker was publicly executed by firing squad this week after conveying news out of the secretive communist state via his illicit cell phone, Associated Press reports:
The man, surnamed Chong, made calls to the defector using an illegal Chinese mobile phone, the broadcaster said, citing a North Korean security agency official it [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Tools/technology, communist regimes, freedom of expression, media, north korea |
By Michael Allen on January 25, 2010
Underground reporters and democracy advocates are penetrating the world’s most secretive state, The New York Times reports, highlighting the first known public protests against North Korea’s semi-feudal, semi-Stalinist regime.
The report highlights the work of Daily NK and Open Radio for North Korea, grantees of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Daily NK recently revealed that the regime [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Featured, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, communist regimes, democracy support, dissidents, freedom of expression, media, north korea, promoting democracy, protests |
By Michael Allen on January 14, 2010
Why Are There No Arab Democracies? asks Larry Diamond in the latest issue of The Journal of Democracy. The January 2010 issue, which marks the Journal’s twentieth anniversary, also includes a must-read analysis of Populism, Pluralism, and Liberal Democracy by Marc F. Plattner. The full text of these articles is available online here.
You will need [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Elections, Failed states, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, autocrats, color revolutions, communist regimes, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratization, dictatorships, dissidents, economic crisis, emerging democracies, foreign policy, governance, legislatures, populism, promoting democracy, rule of law, state-building |
By Michael Allen on January 8, 2010
January 11, 2010. “There Is No Freedom Without Bread! 1989 and the Civil War That Brought Down Communism”, with author Constantine Pleshakov, visiting assistant professor of Russian and Eurasian studies and critical social thought at Mount Holyoke College. Woodrow Wilson Center’s (WWC) Cold War International History Project. 12 noon. Venue: WWC, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Elections, Events, Failed states, Human rights, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, Journal of Democracy, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Publications, authoritarianism, autocrats, backsliding, color revolutions, communist regimes, corruption, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratization, dictatorships, dissidents, emerging democracies, engagement, foreign policy, freedom of expression, governance, media, promoting democracy, protests, resource curse | Tagged Freedom House, Libel Tourism, political Islam, radical Islam |
By Michael Allen on November 25, 2009
The internet is supposed to empower citizens and undermine authoritarian regimes. But Evgeny Morozov challenges the conventional wisdom and details How dictators watch us on the web.
Roger Cohen examines Obama’s Foreign Policy Labyrinth in the New York Times, while Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh believes Obama’s Foreign Policy Needs a Reset. Russia is Regressing into its Stalinist [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, Tools/technology, authoritarianism, communist regimes, foreign policy, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on November 20, 2009
The cameraman known only as T was told last week he faced a minimum jail sentence of 10 years for filming without government permission.
This week he won an award from the Rory Peck Trust.
T is one of 13 other cameramen working for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) jailed by Burma’s military junta since the [read full story]
Posted in Asia, Burma, Closed societies, National Endowment for Democracy, media |
By Michael Allen on November 12, 2009
North Korea’s semi-feudal, semi-Stalinist regime has historically managed to play off the U.S., Russia and China to its own advantage. But recent events could be interpreted as a “cry for help,” some analysts suggest.
It “might be a failing state, balancing on the verge of famine, but when it comes to diplomatic games, North Korean politicians [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, Failed states, National Endowment for Democracy, communist regimes |
By Michael Allen on November 6, 2009
November 9, 2009. 20 Years Ago: The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation invites you to a Roundtable Discussion with Torsten Herbst, Member of the State Legislature of Saxony, Secretary General of the Saxon Free Democratic Party (FDP). The Willard InterContinental Hotel, Crystal Room, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20004
The year 2009 [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Center for International Private Enterprise, Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Elections, Events, Failed states, Human rights, International Republican Institute, Islam/politics, NGOs/Civil society, National Democratic Institute, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, color revolutions, communist regimes, corruption, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, dictatorships, dissidents, emerging democracies, engagement, foreign policy, freedom of expression, governance, north korea, promoting democracy, protests | Tagged Berlin Wall |
By Michael Allen on November 5, 2009
While Soviet communism has entered the dustbin of history, new forms of repression have emerged, writes RFE/RL’s Jeff Gedmin. As “authoritarian regimes are cooperating in unprecedented ways when it comes to the art and science of stifling the democratic impulses of their citizens,” the Berlin Wall’s lessons for today’s efforts to promote human rights and [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, authoritarianism, communist regimes, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratization, dictatorships, dissidents, freedom of expression, media, promoting democracy | Tagged Berlin Wall's lessons for today |
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