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Open Think Tank Articles

March 23, 2012 | NATO and the Arab Spring: Democracy Promotion and Security Sector Reform

Alexander Corbeil: Given NATO’s linkages to Arab states through the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Alliance should actively support the transition to democracy in post-Arab Spring countries by utilizing its various resources in the realms of institutional creation, democracy promotion, and security sector reform.

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February 17, 2011 | Egypt's Revolution is Europe's Reawakening

Gillian Kennedy: As the revolution rapidly unfolds in Egypt, many are looking to the United States to take the lead on the international diplomatic response. Europe, however, unlike the US, has more to gain and is better suited to take advantage of this opportunity, to actively promote democratization in Egypt.

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October 20, 2008 | "Weblogistan" Key to Democratization in Iran

Sepideh Parsa: The Islamic Republic is strangling the media landscape, crippling the democratic pillar of free speech. Censorship has given rise to the Iranian blogosphere. These blogs pave the way for democratic progress. The West should provide technological expertise to help Weblogistan flourish.

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September 3, 2008 | Repairing America's Image Abroad Will Take Time

Mark Brzezinski & Lanny A. Breuer: The US government abuses the law and ignores human rights in the name of security; this shapes the American image abroad and undermines strategic US objectives. American credibility as a standard setter in human rights suffered a major setback. It will take time to repair this damage.

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August 21, 2008 | A Common US-EU Strategy of Democracy Promotion is Feasible

Christine Otsver: A joint US-EU strategy of external democracy promotion is possible but it has to be clearly segregated in order to be effective.

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July 4, 2008 | A League of Democracies is Not a Good Idea

Thomas Carothers: The US needs to recover the international legitimacy it has lost and continue promoting democracy. Yet an exclusive and excluding League of Democracies would be an ineffective tool. Indeed, too many democratic governments are unwilling to follow the US and challenge national sovereignty in the name of democracy.

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May 5, 2008 | Gorbachev Number Two: Dmitry Medvedev

Andreas Umland: Sooner or later it is to be expected that Medvedev’s deeper political beliefs – his apparently liberal and democratic views – will come to the fore.

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May 16, 2007 | The Russia Conundrum: EU and US Should Cooperate with the "Imitation Democracy"

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff: I find that Russia must be encouraged to participate in European democracy. The EU and US must realize that interdependence with Russia can offer benefits beyond status quo diplomacy.

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Global Must Read Articles

August 31, 2012 | Dr. Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Before joining the Carnegie Endowment, Dr. Ottaway carried out research in Africa and in the Middle East for many years and taught at the University of Addis Ababa, the University of Zambia, the American University in Cairo, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
She specializes in democracy and post-conflict reconstruction issues, with special focus on problems of political

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August 29, 2012 | Mursi: Supporter of Democracy and Autocracy?

It is not only disturbing but also hypocritical that one of Mursi’s first trips abroad is to Iran. ++ He is there for the outdated Nonaligned Movement, but the world is now split between democratic and undemocratic states. ++ He is signaling his support for Iran’s autocratic government, although he himself was brought to power with the same kind of democracy movement Tehran tries to crush. ++

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October 24, 2011 | The Reluctance of Rising Democracies

Rising democracies are reluctant to support UN resolutions condemning authoritarian regimes. ++ India, Brazil and South Africa are opposed to democracy promotion partly out of economic self-interest, partly as a sign of protest against past hypocritical Western policies. ++ As rising democracies undergo rapid economic growth, they can afford to disregard international law. ++ Instead of appealing

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July 26, 2011 | Arab Spring Should Avoid Russian Model

When new Arab leaders in Egypt and Tunisia take office, they ought to learn from Russia’s corruption-plagued transition from the USSR. ++ They can avoid a similar fate by initiating the transparent privatization of state economic property, the modernization of commercial laws, and the opening of nearly every sector to foreign investment. ++ The economic and political vitality of the Arab

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July 22, 2009 | US Should Condition Georgian Aid

Obama’s firm support for Georgia is good, but Joe Biden’s visit this week is a chance for a big US foreign policy win. ++ “The US should tell Saakashvili that future economic aid is dependent on an end to his increasingly authoritarian, corrupt and undemocratic rule.” ++ Encouraging Georgia’s democratic opposition would ensure that US dollars are not wasted on a failing regime, strengthen

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April 16, 2009 | Make Institutions Stronger to Stabilize South East Asia

The unconstitutional rule of Commodore Bainimarama in Fiji and the mayhem in Thailand reinforced the fragility of democracy in South East Asia.++ The problem of young democracies is a lack of restraining institutions to ensure the elected government’s interest to govern.++ Favoring elections as a benchmark for democracy, the West encouraged unviable regimes that lack both the capacity of

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January 9, 2009 | Internet Becomes Anti-corruption Tool in China

Last year Chinese officials held a record number of press conferences. ++ For the first time Chinese president Hu Jintao joined a chat on a news portal. ++ Vice mayor Li Ou hosts one of the most popular Chinese blogs. ++ This, along with online debates on proposed laws, shows Chinese confidence in improved, transparent governance. ++ But Internet outcries over corrupt officials, while sometimes

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October 13, 2008 | Hope for Warlordism in Afghanistan, Not Democracy

The Taliban are losing battles in Afghanistan but are winning the war. ++ The situation looks grimmer now than ever before. ++ The war looks it can’t be won, but we must keep trying. ++ NATO can’t win alone, but it should help the Afghan army defend its government - if it’s willing. ++ A civil war could possibly be a key step before being able to reach any kind of agreement

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September 3, 2008 | US Has to Adjust To the Shift in Global Power

Whereas the two last US administrations had a chance to assume American hegemony in economics and security, the chief task of the next one will be to adjust to the global shift in power and gracefully manage diminishing American influence. ++ The US will not be able to show as much arrogance in international relations now that its influence is waning and new powers are emerging. ++ The next

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June 11, 2008 | "The New American Realism" Fairs Well in the EU

Some may be tempted to ignore Bush during his final tour of Europe, a US President on his way out does not need the same attention as one on his way in. ++ Bush’s presidency, however, has marked an epoch-making shift: the emphasis of US diplomacy moved away from stability concerns and toward the spread democratic freedom; an emphasis that is strengthening the Atlantic

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May 14, 2008 | Bolstering the West With a League of Democracies

With new ideological competition in global politics, the formation of a ‘League of Democracies’ could prove pivotal in continuing the West’s export of value systems and developmental models. ++ Some fear that a concert of democracies will create new Cold War-like tensions or supplant the UN’s security function. ++ Such a league could however, operate in areas where other

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April 21, 2008 | The Time Has Come for EU Democracy Promotion

The EU has been successful in promoting democracy among the states that aspire to join. ++ Given this success, Europeans should work to promote liberal democracy beyond Europe’s borders. ++ The EU must agree on what it wants to do and how it defines democracy, which can be best accomplished through a European consensus on democracy. ++ A shared EU approach rather than a single policy would be a

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April 17, 2008 | The EU Is Putting Turkish Democracy at Risk

The EU’s treatment of Turkish democracy is “more functional and opportunistic than principled.” ++ In its recent condemnation of the Turkish judiciary, the EU wrongly interpreted secularism as a threat to democracy while simultaneously disregarding the rule of law, separation of powers, and independence of the judiciary. ++ Accession negotiations and pulling Turkey toward the EU are more

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January 21, 2008 | Democracy: On the Decline?

Freedom House’s annual review revealed that 2007 was yet another year in which worldwide freedom declined. While this report is discouraging, too much weight must not be placed on the events of a single year and there are still reasons to remain optimistic for democracy’s long term future. First of all, “most people in most places still want democracy” and are willing to take huge risks in order

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July 20, 2007 | US Power Propagation Endangers EU Democracy Promotion

David Mathieson and Richard Youngs of Madrid’s FRIDE connect the European left’s declining commitment to democratization with perception of American foreign policy. For Mathieson and Youngs, the sense that America uses democracy promotion as a “cloak for [US] power propagation” is jeopardizing one of the benchmarks of European liberalism.
The authors chart

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April 30, 2007 | GMFUS Foreign Policy Director Glenn Briefs Congress on Transatlantic Relations

German Marshall Fund Director of Foreign Policy John K. Glenn testifies before the US House of Representatives subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, drawing from data and analyses from GMFUS annual report, “Transatlantic Trends.” Glenn reports that though European opinion polls since 2002 have shown consistent decline in favorability towards America, Europeans

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April 2, 2007 | Crisis Group Calls For Continued Engagement After Congo Elections

After the first democratic elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in forty years, International Crisis Group writes that it is now up to President Kabila and the international community to lead reconstruction efforts in this transitional period of peacebuilding. The UN mission MONUC, together with the EU Mission’s “Governance Compact” and the World Bank, must tackle the problems at

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Comments

May 30, 2012 | Thank you! "We" in the US pretend "You" in...

May 22, 2012 | @Stability, Joerg Wolf: It seems to me that...

February 8, 2012 | So environmental concerns (e.g. climate...

August 29, 2011 | Prof. Colette Mazzucelli You have rightly...

March 23, 2011 | I disagree with the judgement that "economic...

February 18, 2011 | @Mawloud Ould Daddah: I think you've got it...

February 18, 2011 | @Joerg "For instance?" Well, neither of...

February 11, 2011 | The fiasco just witnessed on international...

February 4, 2011 | Whether we are afraid of the Muslim...

December 3, 2010 | Santino, thanks for your...

March 27, 2010 | I think it has more humanitarian...

June 8, 2008 | UKRAINE, NATO AND THE EU SHOULD OFFER RUSSIA...

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