Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, May 06, 2013

Robert Looney finds some good news for Haiti’s economic future. Mohamed Eljarh provides insight into the political motives behind the recent militarized takeover of Libya’s government buildings. Deborah Loh reports on Malaysia’s grassroots efforts to crack down on vote fraud. Juan Nagel argues that Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, needs to start building bridges rather than ...

By , the former editor of Democracy Lab, published by Foreign Policy in partnership with Legatum Institute, and , a former editorial assistant and researcher at Foreign Policy.
GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images
GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images
GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images

Robert Looney finds some good news for Haiti's economic future.

Robert Looney finds some good news for Haiti’s economic future.

Mohamed Eljarh provides insight into the political motives behind the recent militarized takeover of Libya’s government buildings.

Deborah Loh reports on Malaysia’s grassroots efforts to crack down on vote fraud.

Juan Nagel argues that Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, needs to start building bridges rather than burning them.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

Marking "Press Freedom Day" on May 3, Freedom House released its annual press freedom index. Freedom House researcher Arch Puddington summed up the results in a piece for Foreign Policy.

In a new paper, Eric Mvukiyehe and Cyrus Samii discuss their recent research on promoting democracy in fragile states. 

In response to Jordan Michael Smith’s piece last week in The National Interest, Zalmay Khalilzad, writing in the same publication, makes the case that promoting democracy in other countries serves the best interests of the United States.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases its annual report on the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Anders Aslund analyzes the crisis in Ukraine’s banking system.

Patrick Kingsley reports for The Guardian on the rise of secular activism in Egypt.

Le Monde’s Maghreb blog showcases cartoons demonstrating Libya’s continued obsession with Qaddafi.

Finally, the Oslo Freedom Forum awards its annual Havel Prize on creative dissent to Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, North Korean democracy activist Park Sang Hak, and the Cuban civil society group the Ladies in White.

Christian Caryl is the former editor of Democracy Lab, published by Foreign Policy in partnership with Legatum Institute. Twitter: @ccaryl

Neha Paliwal is a former editorial assistant and researcher at Foreign Policy.

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