Afghanistan’s parliament has rejected a law banning violence against women in “a severe blow to progress made in women’s rights in the conservative Muslim country since the Islamist Taliban was toppled over a decade ago,” Reuters reports:
President Hamid …
Last month’s deadly earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province may have generated political as well as geological seismic shocks that could ultimately present a “fundamental threat” to the ruling Communist party, analysts suggest.
“The rapid grass-roots response to the …
Are democracy assistance practitioners being outflanked and outmaneuvered by their democracy prevention counterparts? Venezuela’s recent presidential poll provides disturbing evidence of adaptive authoritarianism applied to the electoral process.
“As the facts behind Nicolás Maduro’s fabricated electoral ‘victory’ on April …
“Today marks two decades since the United Nations General Assembly designated May 3 as World Press Freedom Day to celebrate press freedom and raise awareness about threats to media independence around the world,” write Jill Moss and Mark Koenig from …
Technology is having a profound effect on interactions between democratic governments and the citizens they represent, making it easier for citizens to amplify their voices, organize themselves and hold governments to account. However, democratic institutions – governments, parliaments, …
Today’s digital revolutionaries must make a transition from protest to politics if they are to realize the emancipatory potential of liberation technology, say two leading advocates.
Observers and participants alike have described the recent Arab Spring as ‘leaderless’ —but …
“Ten years after the ‘Black Spring’ arrest of 75 Cuban dissidents, some in the opposition perceive signs of greater openness while others see a regime that is merely changing tactics to improve its image,” AFP reports:“The …
Nigeria’s diversity is given political expression in federalism, but shared problems have a unifying effect across state, class, religious and ethnic lines, writes Dave Peterson, the National Endowment for Democracy’s Africa Program Director, who recently returned from an …
“Hong Kong police are investigating the use of an IP address belonging to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology after college authorities reported suspicious activities on their servers linked to recent reports of hacker attacks on U.S. companies …
Eurasia’s authoritarian regimes use “bribes and gifts” to prevent the Council of Europe from criticizing “rampant human rights violations,” says a senior European diplomat.
That’s another reason why Europe needs an autonomous nongovernmental body to advance democracy and human rights, …