By Michael Allen on March 3, 2010
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]
Posted in Africa, Analysis, Asia, China, Cuba, Cuba, Elections, Europe, Featured, Georgia, Kenya, Latin America and the Carribean, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, authoritarianism, autocrats, backsliding, corruption, democracy, democracy and development, democratization, economic crisis, emerging democracies, freedom of expression, governance, media, rule of law |
By Michael Allen on March 1, 2010
Following the death of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the island’s communist authorities have been arresting and harassing dissidents. The World Youth Movement for Democracy highlights other disturbing cases and calls for action:
At approximately 7pm on February 23, human rights activist of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy Cristian Toranzo Fundichely, regional winner [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Cuba, Latin America and the Carribean, communist regimes, dissidents, freedom of expression | Tagged cuba, Cuban prisoner of conscience, New Castro, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Same Cuba, World Youth Movement for Democracy |
By Michael Allen on February 22, 2010
Concern is growing over the deteriorating condition of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo:
After 75 days on hunger strike, Tamayo has been transferred to a prison hospital in Havana due to his “grave condition,” a dissident group reports. Elizardo Sanchez, chairman of the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission, said Zapata’s family confirmed the transfer [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, communist regimes, dissidents |
By Michael Allen on February 18, 2010
The world’s democracy and human rights advocates need to develop genuinely global responses and new approaches to deal with the current authoritarian offensive against fundamental freedoms of association and expression, former Czech President Vaclav Havel told a Washington meeting last night.
There is a compelling moral imperative for solidarity with dissidents within totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Cuba, Democracy assistance, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, autocrats, backsliding, communist regimes, democracy, democracy and development, democracy support, dissidents, freedom of expression, promoting democracy, solidarity, totalitarianism |
By Michael Allen on January 5, 2010
A year on from his inauguration, the foreign policy commentariat is assessing President Barack Obama’s record, not least his administration’s approach to promoting democracy and human rights.
Robert Kagan detects a strategic shift from the grand strategy adopted after World War II based on military and economic “preponderance of power” to one reconciled to managing America’s [read full story]
Posted in Burma, China, Cuba, Featured, Global, Human rights, India, Iran, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, authoritarianism, autocrats, democracy promotion, democracy support, engagement, foreign policy, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on December 8, 2009
Some media stories that have caught the eye of the Center for International Media Assistance this week:
Iranian regime’s offensive against new-generation media; how Iranian activists skirt Web crackdown; why Israel wants US to counter the Islamic Republic with Twitter; Russian Internet provider blocks sites ; guerrilla blogging inside Cuba; Mubarak’s virtual enemies; the global war [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, China, Cuba, Cuba, Democracy assistance, Egypt, Hat tip: Center for International Media Assistance., Human rights, Philippines, Russia, Tools/technology, freedom of expression, media |
By Michael Allen on December 3, 2009
The European Union may have an impressive new strategy on democracy support, but will Spain – soon to assume the EU’s rotating presidency – make the EU “go soft on Cuba?”, asks Milan Ni?, deputy director of Slovakia Pontis Foundation. He isn’t very optimistic:
He was in Havana for the sixth anniversary of the Black Spring [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, European Union, dissidents |
By Michael Allen on October 28, 2009
Cuban dissidents have released an open letter to protest at Spain’s attempt to normalize European relations with communist Cuban authorities in the run-up to the Spanish EU presidency.
The letter, signed by 37 dissidents, 33 of whom remain in prison, criticizes Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos for rebuffing human rights activists while visiting Havana last [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Human rights, National Endowment for Democracy, dissidents, engagement | Tagged cuba, democracy in Cuba |
By Michael Allen on October 14, 2009
Cuba’s communist authorities have banned a dissident blogger from travelling to the U.S. to receive a major journalism award.
Yoani Sánchez won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for her blog, Generacion Y, which is critical of the one-party state and receives 14 million hits each month. Time Magazine has named her as one of the world’s [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Democracy assistance, National Endowment for Democracy, Tools/technology, democracy promotion, engagement, freedom of expression, media | Tagged Center for a Free Cuba, National Endowment for Democracy |
By Michael Allen on September 4, 2009
The U.S. today lifted restrictions on family travel and financial transfers to the island, opened telecommunications and satellite links and eased licensing requirements governing agricultural and medical sales. But Cuba’s communist authorities dismissed the move as a “cosmetic” gesture that does little to ease the U.S. economic embargo.
The Obama administration has been trying to engage [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, engagement |
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