Nigeria’s civil society unified in diversity
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Morsi’s ‘authoritarian regime, with special features’ worse than Mubarak, say...
Human rights violations are worse under President Muhammed Morsi’s rule than under his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak’s regime, according to a consortium of pro-democracy and civil society groups. Egypt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Repression continues’ in dubious transition to post-Castro Cuba
Cuba’s Communist authorities denied Yoani Sánchez (right) the right to travel twenty times, but she has now arrived in the Czech Republic, Radio Praha’s Jan Richter reports: Sánchez, who said she only...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Burma needs ‘bottom-up action to match top-down reform’
President Thein Sein’s government top-down reform process has pushed through important initiatives at a rapid pace to open unprecedented political space in Burma, says a leading rights advocate. “But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chávez’s death leaves ‘bitterly divided’ Venezuela
“The United States is open to a ‘more constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government’ following the death of Hugo Chávez and the expulsion of two military attaches,” CNN reports: However, the...
View ArticleCuba dissident ‘forced off road’ to death
“The daughter of Cuban dissident Oswado Payá said Thursday that the Spanish politician convicted in her fathers’ death told her in person that another vehicle rammed his — and that Payá first survived...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Algeria: elections without democracy?
Algeria’s political system has been described as one of elections without democracy. With the presidential election more than a year away, leadership shifts within the country’s main political parties...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New pope should promote ‘moral foundations’ of democracy
“Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (left) greeted crowds in Rome’s St Peter’s Square today after his election as the Catholic Church’s new Pope, Francis,” the BBC reports. “The 76-year-old from Buenos...
View ArticlePolitical reform in China? When pigs fly (or swim)
Observers who hope the appointment of Xi Jinping as China’s president will enhance prospects for political liberalization are likely to be disappointed. “Some people define reform as reforming in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
China’s workers demand genuine labor unions
China’s workers have demonstrated remarkable solidarity and organizational ability for several years now in strikes and protests across the country. They have demanded and in many cases obtained...
View Article‘Uniting for Tunisia’ against Islamist threat?
Dozens of shoe-waving demonstrators today called for a Tunisian minister to quit, accusing her of a failure to defend women’s rights, a day after the verdict in the trial of a university dean...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Democracy in Retreat? Prescriptions for the future
The failure of young democracies in so many regions of the world has had enormous consequences, writes Joshua Kurlantzick. Most obviously, the renewed strength of authoritarian rule means that billions...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Algeria –‘a giant afraid of its own shadow’?
Algerian authorities illegally barred 96 civil society activists from travelling to the World Social Forum last week in the latest indication that the regime is more insecure than it appears, say...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thatcher (mostly) lauded as champion of democracy
The familiar cliché about Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to lead a major Western democracy, is that she changed the way Britons thought about themselves and the way the world thought about Britain....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cuba ‘at an inflection point’? Payá’s fight for democracy lives on, says...
The daughter of the late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá will ask the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to investigate her father’s death in a suspicious car crash last year. Rosa Maria Payá (above,...
View ArticleEgypt approves revamped election law, as Brotherhood’s appeal wanes
“Egypt’s parliament approved a revised election law setting rules for a parliamentary poll later this year, but opposition politicians denounced the new statute and repeated a threat to boycott the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cuban dissident Payá’s lesson in dignity for Beyonce and Jay-Z
“Why would Cuban security agents choose to kill the island’s leading dissident while he was in the company of two Europeans who might bear witness to the crime?” asks The Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt:...
View ArticleFive (mostly bad) scenarios for Venezuela
“Venezuela’s first post-Chávez presidential election, taking place on April 14, has the unfortunate likelihood of suffering from the same shortcomings of the contest that occurred when Hugo Chávez was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
US human rights report decries global crackdown on civil society
“The Obama administration warned Friday that nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela are turning up pressure on human rights other activists, decrying what it described as a global crackdown on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
As sanctions hit, dissident labor leader says Iran ripe for regime change
Is a combination of economic sanctions and elite-infighting undermining Iran’s Islamic Republic? “The conditions for regime change exist today in Iran,” says Mansour Osanloo (right), the leader of...
View Article
