In The News

Turkey: Erdoğan Faces Twittering Opposition

Anna Beth Keim March 26, 2014
A desire for democracy – the ability to select one’s representatives, but also engage in informed debate on policies with compromise – may slowly take root in Turkey. Spring protests in Gezi Park gave way to harsh crackdown, a government corruption investigation in December and active debate over Twitter since, including leaks of recordings that led to resignations of ministers and growing...

The Specter of Mass Killings in Burma

Larry Diamond February 3, 2014
Myanmar, or Burma’s struggle to build a democracy is visible in many spheres of life including many problematic provisions in the new constitution: “These give the military a quarter of the seats in parliament (and thus a veto over constitutional reform) … and complete immunity from civilian oversight,” writes Larry Diamond for the Atlantic. “They also continue to deny Burma’s minorities (...

Americans Want to Turn Away From World’s Problems

Bruce Stokes January 16, 2014
The United States may no longer view itself as the world’s leading advocate for military engagements or multilateral efforts to promote freedom, democracy and human rights, suggests a study by the Pew Research Center. Americans are war weary, and about half of 2000 adults surveyed in the fall 2013 suggest that the country is overextended, writes Bruce Stokes, the center’s director of global...

Thai Democracy Enters Dangerous New Crossroads

Todd Pitman December 10, 2013
Bitter division in Thailand is a crisis for democracy, a divide that goes hand in hand with complicated relations with the nation’s monarchy. Protest leaders have suggested a preference for a government of elite experts and, according to Todd Pitman of the Associated Press, seek to establish “what amounts to a parallel government – complete with ‘volunteer peacekeepers’ to replace the police, a ‘...

Two Schools of Thought on China – Both Wrong

Eric X. Li November 19, 2013
China’s Communist Party has concluded its Third Plenum, and analysts in the West scrutinize details, hoping to pinpoint the direction of the world’s largest emerging power. Two theories on China’s rise have dominated since 1989, and both are wrong, argues Eric X. Li, venture capitalist and political scientist, in an essay adapted from his lecture at the Oxford Union: The “imminent collapse”...

The Kennedy Temptation

Ian Buruma November 14, 2013
Assassinations of popular leaders prompt many to speculate what might have been had they lived. Citizens mourn that a violent killer or a small group of extremists can dash the hopes and choice of many as was the case with US President John F. Kennedy. “America’s national politics is so poisoned by provincial partisanship – especially among Republicans, who have hated Obama from the beginning –...

The Dilemma of Desperation Migration

Joseph Chamie November 14, 2013
Poverty, conflict and overpopulation have historically forced migrants to pursue opportunity in wealthier nations. Modern migrants have more options for low-cost travel, yet nations have more organized registration, border surveillance and enforcement tools, explains Joseph Chamie, former director of the UN Population Division. Thus, transit countries face new pressures. The desperate in North...