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By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
Is the Obama administration hesitant to make democracy promotion a priority? The Carnegie Endowment’s Robert Kagan and Aroop Mukharji hint as much.
But they are more concerned to celebrate Colombia President Álvaro Uribe’s decision not to seek a fourth term of office:
Democracy is being undermined across South America, where hyper-presidencies and constitutional change have become commonplace. [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, autocrats, democracy, democracy promotion, democratization, promoting democracy | Tagged promoting democracy, wave of autocracy |
By Michael Allen on February 4, 2010
Russia provides a challenging “test case” for the Obama administration’s approach to promoting democracy while engaging authoritarian regimes, a Washington meeting heard this week.
While President Dmitry Medvedev was ostensibly committed to modernization, Russia needs “broader institutional changes, including rule of law”, said Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Eurasia, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Russia, authoritarianism, democracy support, dissidents, rule of law | Tagged .S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Civil Society Working Group, and Labor, anna politkovskaya, Assistant Secretary of State Bureau of Democracy, civil society dialog, constraints on NGOs, European Court of Human Rights, Human rights, Karinna Moskalenko, Ludmila Alexeeva, Michael Posner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Natasha Estemirova, National Endowment for Democracy, promoting democracy, restrictions on civil society, Sergei Kovalev |
By Michael Allen on February 3, 2010
Iran’s Green movement must broaden its demands to expand support amongst the country’s poor and working families, says opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The movement has been accused of being unrepresentative, and arguably too focused on constitutional issues that hold little appeal beyond university students and the middle class.
“The fate of the movement should be tied [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Elections, Human rights, Iran, Islam/politics, authoritarianism, democracy support, dissidents, foreign policy, promoting democracy, protests, solidarity | Tagged democracy promotion, Green movement, green revolution, labor unions, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohsen Sazegara, obama administration, Obama and Iran, promoting democracy, trade unions |
By Michael Allen on January 28, 2010
Arab democracy advocates are growing impatient with the Obama administration’s perceived lack of commitment to promoting political reform in the Middle East.
The tentative reforms and opening of political space that accompanied the Bush administration’s Freedom Agenda proved short-lived after electoral gains made by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood prompted a marked dampening of enthusiasm for [read full story]
Posted in Egypt, Islam and democracy, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, democracy promotion, dissidents, promoting democracy | Tagged Arab democracy, democracy promotion, promoting democracy, promoting democracy in the Middle East |
By Michael Allen on January 25, 2010
The European Union’s strategy for supporting democracy in its neighborhood must address two different clusters of states, a new report suggests. But a reluctance to extend the prospect of EU accession has taken the momentum out of the gravity model of democratization.
“In the last five years, there has been a virulent intellectual debate about the [read full story]
Posted in Azerbaijan, Backlash, Balkans, Belarus, Bosnia, European Union, Featured, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, authoritarianism, autocrats, color revolutions, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratization, emerging democracies, promoting democracy | Tagged democratization, European, promoting democracy, Supporting Democracy |
By Michael Allen on September 23, 2009
President Barack Obama today reiterated the US commitment to promoting democracy, insisting that democratic values are universal and inseparably linked to broader foreign policy goals of development, international cooperation and combating extremism.
“We must champion those principles which ensure that governments reflect the will of the people,” he told the UN General Assembly. “These principles cannot [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, democracy promotion, foreign policy, promoting democracy | Tagged President Barack Obama, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on September 23, 2009
The Obama administration is pursuing a dual track approach to dealing with Russia – engaging both government and civil society, a democracy forum heard this week. On his recent trip, President Barack Obama had spent considerable time meeting civil society and opposition groups, the National Security Council’s Michael McFaul said.
While there will be problems transcending [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Democracy assistance, NGOs/Civil society, Russia, authoritarianism, backsliding, corruption, democracy promotion, engagement, foreign policy, promoting democracy | Tagged Advancing Democracy Abroad, authoritarian offensive, Center for Liberal Strategies, democratic rollback, Ivan Krastev, Lilia Shevtsova, Michael McFaul, National Security Council, promoting democracy, realistic Wilsonianism, resetting US-Russian relations |
By Michael Allen on September 4, 2009
China aspires to democratize international relations – its term for promoting multilateralism at the expense of U.S. influence. But, as a new RAND study notes, the ruling Communist Party remains hostile to expectations that democratization will come to China, while its foreign policy and diplomatic strategy explicitly aim to counter and frustrate U.S. efforts to [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, China, Democracy assistance, Human rights, authoritarianism, democracy promotion, foreign policy, promoting democracy | Tagged and Diversification, China's International Behavior: Activism, democracy promotion, democratization, Opportunism, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on September 1, 2009
The Obama administration has come under fire from democracy advocates for downplaying democracy as a foreign policy priority. Others suggest that it remains committed to promoting democracy as an objective, while recalibrating its approach.
But the administration will ultimately be judged on its accomplishments rather than its rhetoric, write Richard Burt and Dimitri K. Simes. [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Human rights, Soft power, democracy promotion, foreign policy, promoting democracy, smart power | Tagged Democracy assistance, democracy promotion, democratization, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on August 27, 2009
Paul Wolfowitz also invokes the admonition to “do no harm” when it comes to democracy promotion. But he denies that a pragmatic, evolutionary approach amounts to realism, even in the Middle East, where compelling strategic interests compete with promoting democracy as a policy imperative:
The goal should not be revolution, but rather evolutionary change. That’s the [read full story]
Posted in Democracy assistance, Lebanon, Middle East and North Africa, Morocco, democracy promotion, foreign policy, promoting democracy | Tagged democracy promotion, Paul Wolfowitz, promoting democracy |
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