governance

Europe’s new democracies – resilient, uncertain and suffering (but at least they’re not Greece)

What if Greece were a Central European country?, asks Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria.
While a year ago many feared that Central Europe was too corrupt and politically unstable and its economies too liberal (too Anglo-Saxon) to survive the crisis, now it has become clear that it was actually [read full story]

Democracy events

Thursday, March 4, 2010 – 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM – The Iraqi Elections & the Changing Politico-Security Environment in Iraq – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. – Featuring keynote speaker Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, this one day conference presents a number of panels and experts discussing key issues of security and [read full story]

Combating Afghan corruption: gotta start somewhere……

If Afghanistan is going to outgovern, not just out-fight the Taliban insurgency, corruption and governance need to be at the top of the agenda.
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the National Center for Policy Research (NCPR) of Kabul University made their own contribution to an arduous task with this week’s Kabul roundtable on [read full story]

Enough! Making Albania’s politics accessible – and pols accountable

Politics can be more fun than this? Communist dictator Enver Hoxha’s statue bites the dust.
The most exciting event of his childhood was when crowds pulled down the huge statue of Enver Hoxha, Albania’s communist dictator. But now Erion Veliaj is organizing a new generation through a different approach to politics.
“We have to make politics fun [read full story]

Democratic advantage obscures ’significant setbacks’ and autocratic legitimacy

The apparently stable advantage of democracy over autocracy disguises worrying erosion in the quality of democracy, a new analysis suggests.
Democracy has not lost its normative appeal, but even established democracies have experienced “significant setbacks” in the freedoms of assembly, association and the press, as well as declines in political participation, civil liberties and social capital, [read full story]

Afghanistan: need to outgovern, not just out-fight insurgency

Serious regression on Afghanistan’s political front threatens to undermine the promising gains secured on the battlefield, a new analysis suggests.
President Hamid Karzai’s backtracking on reform commitments, most recently rewriting the electoral law while the parliament was out of session and his brazen assumption of control over the formerly independent Electoral Complaints Commission, require a forceful [read full story]

Zuma endorses call for democractic governance – and welcomes China

This week’s meeting of African democracy advocates in Pretoria ended on a high when South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance.  
Only four states – Mauritania, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Burkina-Faso – have ratified since it was adopted by the African Union in January 2007.
The fragility of African [read full story]

Democracy Events

Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27 – “Voices from Afghanistan” Exhibit – Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE – On February 24, a new exhibit at the Library of Congress will display some of the thousands of hand-painted scrolls and letters received by Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s popular Afghan radio station. [read full story]

Democracy events

Thursday, February 18 – Iraq’s Elections—and Iraq’s Future. 12:15-1:45, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW –The Iraqi parliamentary elections on March 7 will be a critical test for the young democracy. Ad Melkert, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, will assess the latest situation on the ground in the run-up [read full story]

India: unprepared and unwilling to defend Asian democracy?

The world’s largest democracy is losing out to its authoritarian neighbors due to its “strategic incoherence” and a chronic inability to project soft power, writes analyst Bharat Verma.
“The simple truth is that Indian democratic values contradict and thereby pose a threat to authoritarian philosophy of both, the Communists in Beijing, and the Islamic fundamentalists in [read full story]

Search by Category

Browse Democracy Links

Bulletin and Archives

Opportunities and Events

Subscribe to the RSS Feed


Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner