Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, January 22, 2013

Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart lay down a road map for rebuilding the Syrian state once the war is over.

Christian Caryl argues that the outcry over Gérard Depardieu‘s embrace of a Russian passport shows that we still take citizenship seriously.

Juan Nagel predicts that the adherents of ailing President Hugo Chavez will do anything to win an upcoming election, even sabotage the economy.

Mohamed El Dahshan congratulates Tunisia on the second anniversary of the revolution.

Albert Fishlow explains how Argentina’s bi-polar economic policies are dragging the country down.

And Endy Bayuni reports on how Twitter is being used to combat misogyny in Indonesia.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

Writing for Chatham House, Orysia Lutsevich presents a skeptical analysis of western democracy promotion efforts in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.

Les Roopanarine reports for The Guardian on how aid agencies are using innovative solutions to combat distribution problems.

The Carnegie Endowment offers two intriguing takes on the new French counterterrorism operation in Mali. The photo above shows Turkey’s Saadet Party protesting French occupation.

POMED argues that protecting democracy is both right and smart.

Bassem Sabry reveals the ten things Libya should learn from Egypt’s constitution.

International Crisis Group assesses the likelihood of recurring violence in Kenya’s upcoming March elections.     

Radio Free Europe’s Daud Khattak describes the odd contradictions of Pakistan’s democracy defender du jour, Tahir ul-Qadri. 

Juan Garrigues reports for Open Democracy on the difficulties faced by Libya as it tries to disarm revolutionary militias.

INEGMA’s Daniel Wagner and Giorgio Cafiero examine threats to Jordanian King Abdullah’s rule.