Democracy Promotion

10 Years Later: Washington Did Not Change Much

Mohamed Elmenshawy | Posted 11.09.2011

Read More: Egypt, Islam, Bush Administration, Arab Spring, Bahrain Protests, Middle East, Sept-11-September-11, Obama Administration, Democracy Promotion, September 11 Anniversary, Politics News

A decade doesn't change much in Washington. After the tragedy of 9/11, Americans chose not to understand the nature and the motivation behind these h...

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Egyptian Activists See Hypocrisy In BART Shutdown, London Riots

HuffingtonPost.com | Joshua Hersh | Posted 10.16.2011

Read More: Twitter, Social Networking, Bart Protests, David Cameron, Democracy in the Arab World, London, London Riots, Social Media, Arab Spring, Anonymous, Web Censorship, Bart, Hosni Mubarak, Committee to Protect Journalists, Democracy Promotion, Censorship, San Francisco, Mubarak Protests, World News

The Egyptian activists are calling it "muBARTak." When authorities from Bay Area Rapid Transit decided, last week, to cut off cell phone service in...

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Promoting Democracy Is Not Imposing Democracy

Michael Doyle | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Iraq War, Egypt Protests, Egypt Revolution, Democracy, Democracy Promotion, Iraq, World News

Democracy is best promoted peacefully. It spreads by good example, by incentives and assistance. Promoting democracy is done best when it is done indirectly through trade, investment, and foreign aid.

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Dispatches from Today's Elections in Egypt

Shadi Hamid | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Egypt, United States, Obama Administration, Democracy Promotion, Foreign Policy, Middle East, World News

I'm in Cairo covering today's elections. I spent the day going from one polling station to another talking mostly to Muslim Brotherhood (MB) supporter...

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Election Protection in Afghanistan

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Usaid, Election Protection, Strategy, Afghanistan, Mike Signer, Mark Warner, Democracy, Taliban, Democracy Promotion, Constitution, Afghan Taliban, Afghanistan War, World News

This Saturday, I'll be stepping off a plane in Dubai along with several dozen other Americans, on the way to Kabul for a mission to monitor elections for the Wolesi Jirga, Afghanistan's lower house of Parliament.

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One Year Later: The Green Movement Goes On

Cynthia Boaz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Green Movement, Civil Resistance, Repression, Mideast, Violence, Iran, Democracy, Green Revolution, Iranian Election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Democracy Movements, Nonviolence, Global Politics, Middle East, Nonviolent Action, Democracy Promotion, Iranian Islamic Republic, World News

I was one of millions around the world who watched last summer's Green Revolution unfolding on the streets of Iran with high hopes for a swift and blo...

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Vision of a State: Ultra-Federalism in Afghanistan

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Loya Jirga, Afghan Warlords, Federalism, Afghanistan, David Petraeus, Kabul, Democracy, Taliban, Obama Doctrine, Barack Obama, Mike Signer, Nation Building, General Petraeus, Democracy Promotion, Constitution, Afghan Taliban, World News

An ultra-federalist culture would constantly seek to discover and bridge gaps between local systems for administering justice and the official machinery of the state courts.

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The Importance of 'Democracy Promotion'

J. Brian Atwood | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Democracy Promotion, Afghanistan, Obama Foreign Policy, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, World News

The overly enthusiastic embrace of "democracy promotion" by the Bush administration could have smothered that phrase for years to come. But fortunately, Obama has resisted temptations to abandon it.

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Nicaragua: Déjà Coup All Over Again?

Javier Corrales | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: United States, Constitution, Democracy Promotion, Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, Coup in Honduras, World News

This week, the United States helped bring an end to a serious political crisis in Honduras. A similar crisis is now brewing in Nicaragua, but this time, the United States won't be as lucky.

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What Have We Done to Democracy?

Arundhati Roy | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Elections, Democracy, Democracy Promotion, India Pakistan Relations, Pakistan Democracy, Kashmir, Booker Prize, World News

What happens now that democracy and the free market have fused into a single predatory organism with a thin, constricted imagination that revolves almost entirely around the idea of maximizing profit?

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Beating Back the Democratization Backlash

Neil Hicks | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Egypt, Iran, u.s. Foreign Policy, Al-Qaeda, Democracy Promotion, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, President Obama, World News

There is no necessary connection between soft-pedaling democracy promotion and advancing core American interests. Failing to advance democracy is in itself harmful to these interests.

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Freed Academic Haleh Esfandiari: 'Iranians Want Evolution, Not Revolution'

Diane Tucker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Evin Prison, Kennebunkport, Harsh Interrogations, Iran Election, One Million Signatures Campaign, Iran Regime Change, Iran, Iran Liveblogging, Diane Tucker, Mental Stress, Green Wave, The Inner Life, Voting Problems, Haleh Esfandiari, Civil Rights, Stress, Green Movement, Iran Post Election Crisis, Women?S Rights, Kian Tajbakhsh, Press Freedom, Mixed Marriage, Women?S Books, Voting, Fear Watch, Tehron Mass Trial, Twitter, Hijab, Iran Solitary Confinement, Middle East Politics, European Union, Georgia, Color Revolution, Obama Mideast Trip, Velvet Revolution, Islamic Veil, Iran Protest Movement, Ukraine, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Nico Pitney Iran Liveblogging, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Haleh Esfandiari Solitary Confinement, Bush Administration, My Prison My Home, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iran Family Protection Law, Islamic Revolution, Democracy Promotion, Diane Tucker Iran Blogs, Iranian Women?S Rights, Voter?S Rights, Woodrow Wilson Center, Iran's Cultural Prison, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, World News

Every two or three years, there has been a wave of protests like this in Iran. But this time I think there has been a fundamental change.

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Mubarak: Autocrat With Chutzpah

William Fisher | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Democracy Promotion, Barack Obama, Egypt-Human-Rights-Hosni-Mubarak, World News

The Mubarak regime has repeatedly used the Israeli-Palestinian impasse as a fig-leaf to obscure its own monumental deficiencies -- and later used Bush's "war on terror" mantra as an even more dramatic cover story. Does this sound like the job description of an honest broker?

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What the Neocons Don't Get about Freedom

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Charles Krauthammer, Iran Election, Demagogue, Freedom, Neocons, Democracy, Democracy Promotion, Jonah Goldberg, Barack Obama, State Department, Politics News

A key aspect of constitutionalism is that it begins and ends with the people, rather than rhetoric, institutions, or leaders. Thus the genius of Obama's policy of actual democracy promotion.

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The Green Revolution Belongs to the Iranians, Not the United States

Cynthia Boaz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Conspiracy Theories, Pro-Democracy-Groups, Nonviolent Action, People-Power, Iran, Democracy Promotion, Iranian Election, Burma, World News

To seriously question the Iranians' ownership of their struggle serves the interests of a brutal regime and risks undermining the morale of individuals participating in a true peoples' movement.

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Teaching Transformational Diplomacy and Making "Democracy" a Good Word Again

Steve Clemons | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John F. Kennedy Library, Central European University, Condoleezza Rice, George Soros, George W. Bush, Democratic Transition, John Shattuck, Democracy Promotion, Transformational Diplomacy, Barack Obama, Caroline Kennedy, Foreign Policy, Politics News

Ever since Bush launched a crusade to democratize parts of the world by force, sometimes with sanctions and sometimes guns, I have struggled with the question of how to get "tranformational diplomacy" right.

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How Obama Can Improve the World

Jason Pielemeier | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: South Africa, Human Rights, Barack Obama, Yale, Economic Crisis, Clean Coal, Afghanistan, Renewable Energy, Democracy, Green Energy, Energy Policy, Financial Crisis, Democracy Promotion, Global Warming, Sustainability, World News

Yale World Fellows advise Barack Obama on his first term, with tips on how he can transform the energy economy, advice on Afghanistan, and suggestions for how he can help create a global democracy.

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Is "Ideology" Bad When it Comes to Foreign Policy?

Shadi Hamid | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Democracy Promotion, Egypt, War on Terrorism, Pragmatism, Foreign Policy, Ideology, George W. Bush, Foreign Affairs, World News

In the realm of foreign policy, "Ideology" is getting a bad name. "Pragmatism" is, apparently, all the rage. Problem is we aren't being careful with our terms.

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A Great Text for Reformers

Amitai Etzioni | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Iraq War, Iraq Reconstruction, Democracy Mideast, Democracy Promotion, Democracy Building, Reconstruction, Politics News

Anyone who believes that the United States can march into a country, topple its regime, and build a prosperous democracy, ought to read, study and read again Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

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Attacks on Gene Sharp and Albert Einstein Institution Unwarranted

Stephen Zunes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Albert Einstein Institution, Human Rights, Venezuela, Burma, Gene Sharp, Ned, Democracy, Democracy Promotion, Non-Violence, Neo-Con Agenda, Politics News

Sharp has inspired generations of progressives around the world. So why are foreign governments claiming that he and his small research institute are key players in a Bush administration plot against them?

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