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 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 |
By Michael Allen on October 30, 2009
Power-shortages in energy-rich Venezuela, combined with rampant inflation and corruption, rising crime and unemployment, are creating “a worrying picture for chavismo,” a government supporter concedes.
Yet President Hugo Chávez’s response has been characteristically quixotic. “Some people sing in the bath for half an hour,” he told a recent cabinet meeting, broadcast live. “What kind of communism is [read full story]
Posted in Latin America and the Carribean, Venezuela, authoritarianism, protests |
By Michael Allen on October 15, 2009
Latin America’s neo-populists are undermining independent media in the name of democratization, a Washington meeting heard yesterday.
Reflecting the classic populist distrust of liberal democracy’s mediating institutions, regimes are portraying independent media as elitist while fostering direct channels of communication with “the people”, including politicized forms of community media.
Neo-populist regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua [read full story]
Posted in Latin America and the Carribean, National Endowment for Democracy, Nicaragua, Venezuela, authoritarianism, freedom of expression, media |
By Michael Allen on October 13, 2009
October 14, 2009. Putting Smart Power to Work
The US Global Leadership Coalition is hosting an interactive discussion around the State Department’s new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR); a blueprint of a smart power approach to U.S. foreign policy. Click here to RSVP. Venue: Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. Program includes: 8:00 A.M. – Breakfast and Keynote; 9:00 [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Analysis, Asia, Backlash, Balkans, China, Democracy assistance, Eurasia, Europe, Events, Failed states, Honduras, Human rights, Islam/politics, Latin America and the Carribean, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Publications, Russia, Soft power, Tools/technology, Venezuela, Women, authoritarianism, backsliding, communist regimes, corruption, democracy and development, democracy promotion, dissidents, economic crisis, emerging democracies, foreign policy, freedom of expression, governance, promoting democracy, protests, rule of law, smart power, state-building |
By Michael Allen on October 8, 2009
What explains the prevailing cognitive and moral dissonance over Latin American democracy in discussions of Venezuela and Honduras?
Chris Sabatini invokes the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick’s celebrated discussion of Dictatorships and Double Standards to argue that “we should be equally intolerant of violations of democratic and human rights” whatever the political orientation of the regime.
“Only by doing [read full story]
Posted in Christopher Sabatini, Honduras, Honduras coup, Latin America and the Carribean, National Endowment for Democracy, Venezuela, authoritarianism, coup in Honduras |
By Michael Allen on September 17, 2009
Following a two-week “dicta-tour” that took in Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Russia, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez apparently failed to secure buy-in to his dream of a natural gas producers’ OPEC, but his extensive arms purchases did prompt concern from the United States and his Latin American neighbors.
His choice of allies is also providing [read full story]
Posted in Elections, Middle East and North Africa, Venezuela, authoritarianism, dissidents, media |
By Michael Allen on August 3, 2009
Is the Organization of the American States failing in its commitment to defend democracy in the region? The regional grouping has come under fire for what some see as an ill-informed and over-hasty intervention in the current political crisis in Honduras.
The OAS should start to take its Democratic Charter seriously, critics suggest. OAS general secretary [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Cuba, Honduras, Honduras coup, Inter-American Democratic Charter, Latin America and the Carribean, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Organization of American States, Venezuela, authoritarianism, coup in Honduras, democracy promotion, promoting democracy | Tagged National Endowment for Democracy, Organization of the American States |
By Michael Allen on July 27, 2009
Hugo Chavez’s rants betray more than an authoritarian mentality and fondness for foul language, write Claudio Lomnitz and Rafael Sánchez. Less familiar than his anti-imperialist rhetoric is his virulent homophobia and anti-Semitism, traits he shares with at least one close ally:
Chavista anti-Semitism is a symptom of the weakness of the regime itself. From its inception, [read full story]
Posted in Latin America and the Carribean, Venezuela, authoritarianism | Tagged chavista, Latin America, venezuela |
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