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By Michael Allen on March 17, 2010
Pro-government goons harassed and abused the Ladies in White dissident group as the women marched in Havana to highlight the 2003 “Black Spring” imprisonment of 75 dissidents.
With dissidents’ hunger strikes attracting international attention, Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar has signed a petition demanding the release of Cuba’s political prisoners while Amnesty International marked the anniversary [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Featured, Human rights, Latin America and the Carribean, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, communist regimes, corruption, democracy, dissidents, freedom of expression, protests | Tagged Amnesty International, Black Spring, Carlos Saladrigas, Cuba Study Group, democracy activists, Ladies in White, Marifeli Perez-Stable, National Endowment for Democracy, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Pedro Almodovar |
By Michael Allen on March 16, 2010
Did last weekend’s regional elections indicate growing voter fatigue with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling party? Or is his power vertical pretty much intact with the elections providing a convenient safety valve to defuse growing social unrest?
United Russia saw its share of the vote fall in seven of eight regional legislatures as voters registered their [read full story]
Posted in Eurasia, Featured, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Russia, authoritarianism, corruption, dissidents, protests, rule of law |
By Michael Allen on March 15, 2010
The United States remains committed to promoting democracy in the Middle East, a senior State Department official insisted today, but the pace and content of reform will be determined by local actors and the specific conditions within Arab states.
“Economic and social development are prerequisites for sustainable democracy,” said Tamara Wittes, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Elections, Featured, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, autocrats, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratic reform, democratization, foreign policy, promoting democracy | Tagged Arab exceptionalism, authoritarian regimes, democracy promotion, democratic reform, democratic values in the Arab world, Middle East Partnership Initiative, political liberalization, promoting Arab democracy, promoting democracy in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Tamara Wittes |
By Michael Allen on March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 16 – 10:00 am to 11:30 a.m. Disappearing God Gap: Religion’s Role in the 2008 Presidential Elections and Beyond – The Brookings Institution, Saul/Zilkha Rooms, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC – In a new book by religion and politics experts Corwin Smidt and Kevin den Dulk, The Disappearing God Gap? (Oxford University [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Analysis, Asia, China, Democracy assistance, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Elections, Eurasia, Europe, Events, Fragile States, Global, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, Latin America and the Carribean, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Pakistan, Regions, Religion and Democracy, Russia, Ukraine, Women, Zimbabwe, accountability, authoritarianism, autocrats, color revolutions, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratic reform, democratization, dictatorships, dissidents, economic crisis, emerging democracies, foreign policy, freedom of expression, governance, legislatures, media, promoting democracy, religious freedom, rule of law, sanctions, solidarity | Tagged Analyzing the Political Elite of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Democracy in Ukraine, Freedom House, Governance in the West Bank, Internet freedom, Islamism and Neo-secularism, Michael Posner, Obama Administration’s Russia Policy, Politics, post-Orange Revolution transition, radicalization, Russian Anti-Americanism, Security and Human Rights in the North Caucasus, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Transparency, Why There Is No ‘European Islam’, Zimbabwe |
By Michael Allen on March 15, 2010
President Barack Obama’s visit to Indonesia is both personal and political, writes the Brookings Institution’s Lex Rieffel. One of the trip’s objectives is to raise the global profile of the world’s most important and least known country, including its “impressive transition from 30 years of authoritarian rule………… to become arguably the most democratic country in [read full story]
Posted in Asia, Elections, Featured, Indonesia, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, NGOs/Civil society, accountability, democracy, democratization | Tagged authoritarian rule, collusion and nepotism, compatibility of democracy and Islam, compatibility of democracy and sharia, democracy conference in Jakarta, democratic transition, Democratic Transition and Consolidation, equating democracy with liberalism, Human rights, Indonesia and democracy, Islam and democracy, KKN: corruption, pluralism, secularism, shari'a |
By Michael Allen on March 12, 2010
“It has become fashionable to say that the Bush administration made ‘egregious’ errors promoting democracy in the Arab world,” writes Steven A. Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations.
But, while Cook opposed invading Iraq, he insists that the previous administration was otherwise commendable in addressing the Arab world’s democracy deficit.
The “forceful, public support for [read full story]
Posted in Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, autocrats, democracy, democracy promotion, promoting democracy | Tagged civil society, democracy deficit, democracy promotion, promoting democracy in the Arab world, promotion of democracy |
By Michael Allen on March 12, 2010
“As a human rights defender, I am hoping that the Zimbabwean Government will learn …., that it is not proper for a citizen to be abducted, tortured, and kept incommunicado for weeks on end without being tried,” said Jestina Mukoko yesterday. The executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a grantee of the National Endowment [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Zimbabwe, accountability, democracy support, dissidents |
By Michael Allen on March 11, 2010
Promoting democracy is a vital element in the war of ideas against violent extremism, writes James Glassman, former U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.
Public diplomacy and public relations are not the same thing, and efforts to improve the image of the United States will be less effective than active solidarity with [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Iran, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, Religion and Democracy, democracy, democracy promotion, democracy support, foreign policy, promoting democracy, solidarity, totalitarianism | Tagged civil society, infrastructure of democracy’, Iran’s Green Movement, James Glassman, Muslim democrats, rule of law, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, totalitarian, violent extremism, war of ideas |
By Michael Allen on March 11, 2010
The Obama administration has bridled at criticism of a purportedly realist reversion on promoting democracy. But Hillary Clinton’s State Department seems to have overcome an initial reticence to consider civil society groups as serious interlocutors, at least in Pakistan, this anecdote suggests:
Shamila Chaudary — a self-described “backbencher” — had toiled for years as a faceless [read full story]
Posted in Asia, Democracy assistance, NGOs/Civil society, Pakistan, democracy promotion, promoting democracy
By Michael Allen on March 11, 2010
Today’s must-read is Vin Weber’s demolition of a recent critique of the National Endowment for Democracy by ill-informed libertarian Shikha Dalmia which rehashed some old myths about the NED and democracy assistance in general.
He’s rather gentle on Ms. Dalmia’s shaky grasp of international politics (she entertains the illusion that “Communism has … evaporated, and democracy [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, democracy, democracy promotion, dissidents, foreign policy, north korea, promoting democracy |
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