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Civil society the litmus test for Great Lakes democracy

By Nancy Welch on September 8, 2010

 

Burundi’s path to democracy seems more secure than in neighboring Rwanda, at least judging by the vibrancy of civil society, the National Endowment for Democracy’s Nancy Welch told today’s Great Lakes Policy Forum meeting in Washington.
At the Great Lakes Policy Forum this past June, I argued that Rwanda lacked the democratic institutions and political space [read full story]

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Time to embrace Somaliand?

By Demdigest on July 29, 2010

The recent election in Somaliland appears to have had quite an impact on observers.
This “desperately poor, Muslim, and nomadic” society, with few natural resources and limited exports, defied the odds – including threats of violence from the Islamist Al-Shabab militia – to hold the election, writes former US Ambassador Richard S. Williamson.
“The people would not [read full story]

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Somaliland: democratic beacon, but no easy model

By Demdigest on July 27, 2010

There are lessons for Somalia in the election of Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud ’Silanyo‘ as Somaliland’s third democratically elected President, whose inauguration has confirmed the durability of the country’s democratic institutions in an inhospitable regional environment.
“With few, if any, appropriate role-models amongst neighboring states…Somaliland achieved an election and a transfer of power that many more established [read full story]

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Democracy diminishes disasters

By Demdigest on July 19, 2010

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on January 12, 2010 killed approximately 222,000 people, but only 500 perished in the 8.8-magnitude shock that hit Chile the following month – approximately 500 times stronger than the Haitian ‘quake.
Forty years ago, some 66,000 people were killed when a 7.9-magnitude tremor hit Peru, but an even [read full story]

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DRC: still time to reverse ‘unmistakable turn’ towards autocracy

By Demdigest on July 7, 2010

Four years after its first democratic elections in over 40 years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “has taken an unmistakable turn towards autocratic rule” that threatens to destabilize the entire region, writes Joshua Marks, program officer for Central Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy.
The initial promise of a democratic transition is fading [read full story]

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Growing demands for inquiry into death of DRC human rights ‘pioneer’

By Demdigest on June 3, 2010

African democracy and human rights activists are calling on the UN Human Rights Council, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, and the international community to urge the Congolese government to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the deaths of Chebeya Bihizire and his driver, Bazan Edadi. 
The African Democracy Forum (ADF), a network [read full story]

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Transparency the key to Sudan’s referendum

By Demdigest on May 20, 2010

The main lesson of Sudan’s recent elections is that confidence-building measures are needed before southerners will trust Khartoum’s handling of the forthcoming referendum, writes Dave Peterson, senior director of the Africa program at the National Endowment for Democracy, the Washington-based democracy assistance group.
“Negotiations and decision-making must be transparent, and education about the referendum process must [read full story]

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The perfect failed state?

By Demdigest on May 19, 2010

Ainashe is an intellectual. He reads American philosophers like Thoreau and Emerson, he studied in Norway and, until recently, he made a good living working for the World Bank in Washington. He has a wife and two young children in the United States, and he has a passion for expensive watches.
So how does he survive [read full story]

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Chavez’s ideological necrophilia at root of ‘Cubazuelan’ crisis

By Michael Allen on May 18, 2010

Venezuela’s President Hugo has come to embody a new form of authoritarian rule which has “proved surprisingly successful across the world.” But what one observer calls his ideological necrophilia has precipitated a crisis of such magnitude that even his Cuban allies are concerned at his regime’s staggering ineptitude.  
The new authoritarian model “combines a democratic mandate, [read full story]

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South Africa’s visionary democrat dies

By Demdigest on May 14, 2010

Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, a key architect of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy, died today.
He co-founded the Institute for Democracy in Africa and Paul Graham, Idasa’s director, had previously paid tribute to Van Zyl Slabbert’s contribution. The vision he provided during the early years of transition, he said, “helped push the organisation, and [read full story]

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