Democracy

Building a democratic state for the new Libya: A task list

Stefan Wolff • Aug 26 2011 • Articles

Building democratic states is a complex and challenging task at the best of times. After violent conflict this task is additionally complicated by the fact that peace needs to be secured, institutions need to be comprehensively reformed, if not built from scratch, civil society and political culture need to be reinvigorated, and economies need to be put back on a path to sustainable growth.

No ideal democracy for Burma

Jacqueline Menager • May 6 2011 • Articles

The recent establishment of parliaments in Burma, following the passing of a new constitution in 2008 and elections that were held late last year, mark a change in the approach taken by the country’s military rulers – despite being conducted under dubious conditions.

Reflections on recent elections in Africa

Ioannis Mantzikos • Mar 8 2011 • Articles

Winner-takes-all multiparty democracy is not appropriate for Africa’s nation-states. Much of Africa today is under the control of “Vampire states”. It has become a pattern: a sitting president reluctantly holds an election; deludes himself into thinking he will win; no one would dare tell him he might lose.

The Egyptian People Demand the Fall of the Regime

John Chalcraft • Jan 31 2011 • Articles

The “Tunisian wind”, stirred by the popular uprising that swept President Ben Ali of Tunisia from power on 15 January 2011, is inspiring the Arab world from Bahrain to Morocco. Ordinary people in their hundreds of thousands have joined activists in street protests. They seek bread, housing, livelihoods, dignity, freedom and justice.

Review – A Second Look at Huntington’s Third Wave Thesis

Stephen McGlinchey • Sep 23 2010 • Features

It is worth taking a second look at Huntington’s thesis considering the controversial democratisation attempts pursued by the US in the early years of the 21st Century.

Trends in Muslim Political Thought: Redefining Islam in the Socio-Political Context

Halim Rane • Apr 16 2010 • Articles

Since the second half of the 20th century, Islam has been reasserted as a socio-political force across the Muslim world. The past few decades have seen Islamist parties win elections in a number of Muslim countries, including Algeria, Palestine, and Turkey, and form the strongest opposition to Western-aligned ruling regimes in a host of others.

Barack Obama’s Democracy Promotion after One Year

Nicolas Bouchet • Feb 25 2010 • Articles

It is wrong to say that Barack Obama rejects the democracy tradition in American foreign policy. His record, appointments and first-year budget requests show that democratization is not being jettisoned as a US goal. To varying extents, the president and his foreign policy principals are liberal internationalists. However there has been a stark rhetorical break from the Bush era.

Anniversary of Eastern Europe’s bloodiest Revolution reminds of the duty to unearth secrets of the past

Aura Sabadus • Dec 20 2009 • Articles

Twenty years ago this week the Romanian revolution was making international headlines. Yet those who tortured, killed and humiliated continue to hold the power, abuse the law, and live opulent lives, without showing the slightest trace of guilt.

Liberal Peace Transitions: Towards a Post-Liberal Peace in IR?

Oliver Richmond • Sep 3 2009 • Articles

It has become generally assumed that ‘Liberal Peace Transitions’ offer a way out of local, civil, regional and international conflict, as well as complex emergences and development problems. All military, humanitarian, diplomatic, political, economic, and social, interventions since the end of the Cold War have been geared to this programme – with limited success.

Ethnic Tension in China: From Guangdong to Xinjiang

Linda Benson • Aug 21 2009 • Articles

The recent clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs illustrate dramatically the difficulties facing China as the existing chasm between the Han majority and the Uyghur minority deepens. Both incidents constitute an enormous setback to China’s minority policy and to government efforts at persuading the minority Uyghurs that they are citizens with equal rights in the new China.

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