By Michael Allen on March 1, 2010
As evidence emerges of Venezuela’s collusion with terrorist groups plotting to kill Colombia’s president, the documented erosion of the country’s democracy, the arrival of a leading apparatchik from Havana, are raising concerns about the country’s authoritarian trajectory.
Spain’s High Court today accused the Chávista regime of aiding Basque Eta rebels and the Colombian Farc in planning [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Human rights, Labour/labor unions, Latin America and the Carribean, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Venezuela, authoritarianism, dissidents, media, populism |
By Michael Allen on February 4, 2010
Chris Sabatini uses the 11th anniversary of President Hugo Chávez’s assumption of power to reflect on the seven key lessons he has learned from the Bolivarian caudillo.
“President Chávez’s behavior and profile, internationally and nationally, provide a powerful lesson on how to challenge and defy traditional wisdom—and with it international norms and precedent,” writes Sabatini, Editor-in-Chief [read full story]
Posted in Latin America and the Carribean, National Endowment for Democracy, Venezuela, authoritarianism, autocrats, populism |
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 December 29, 2009
With events in Iran approaching a tipping point, the Green movement needs a coherent plan of action and a disciplined leadership, writes Abbas Milani, director of Stanford University’s Iran Democracy Project.
Iran’s democratic movement exhibits “the three characteristics of a velvet revolution—nonviolent, nonutopian and populist in nature—with the nimble organizational skills and communication opportunities afforded [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Human rights, Iran, Islam/politics, NGOs/Civil society, Tools/technology, color revolutions, populism |
By Michael Allen on December 17, 2009
Latin America faces a “revelatory moment”, in the wake of the Honduran constitutional crisis, writes Jorge G. Castañeda.
The episode confirmed a “remarkable—and certainly transformative fact”: that the United States “is no longer willing, or perhaps even able, to select who governs from Tegucigalpa, or anywhere else in the region for that matter.”
He is concerned that [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Honduras coup, Human rights, Inter-American Democratic Charter, authoritarianism, backsliding, coup in Honduras, populism |
By Michael Allen on December 2, 2009
While provisional returns suggest that the opposition National Party’s Porfirio Lobo handily defeated Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal Party in last Sunday’s election, the legitimacy of the poll is being contested.
As Honduran legislators debated the future of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, an election assessment mission published findings that the poll was “generally peaceful and [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Elections, Featured, Honduras coup, Human rights, Manuel Zelaya, National Democratic Institute, coup in Honduras, democracy support, populism |
By Brandon Yoder on November 13, 2009
Although tensions between Colombia and Venezuela have flared up repeatedly in recent years, they appeared to approach boiling point when Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez ordered his country’s military to prepare for war against its neighbor on Sunday. While Chávez has long accused Colombian President Álvaro Uribe of being a proxy of the U.S., he pointed [read full story]
Posted in Featured, Guest Post, Latin America and the Carribean, Venezuela, populism |
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