Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, July 22, 2013

Christian Caryl looks at organized crime’s impact on governance around the world.

Anna Nemtsova reports on Muscovites’ reactions to the guilty verdict handed to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

Michael Albertus and Victor Menaldo explain why history is on the side of Egypt’s coup.

Michael Cecire and Laura Linderman praise Georgia’s experiment in divided government.

Dalibor Rohac scrutinizes Morocco’s role as a model for the Arab world.

Mohamed El Dahshan calls for pro- and anti-Morsy camps to stop fighting and start talking.

Mohamed Eljarh reports on Libya’s rocky path to a new constitution — and also assesses  the impact of Egypt’s coup on Libyan politics.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

As the Syrian civil war enters its third year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom releases a factsheet on the country’s refugee crisis. The National Post features aerial views of one of the world’s largest refugee camps, located in Jordan and housing over 115,000 people. Jenny Lei Ravelo, writing for Devex, explains why the development aid world needs to adopt new models of dealing with refugees.

In The Washington Post, Loveday Morris and Ahmed Ramadan analyze the reasons behind the latest precipitous drop in the value of Syria’s currency.

Human Rights Watch releases an unprecedented report that criticizes the World Bank for ignoring human rights violations.

Writing for the Middle East Institute, Reidar Vissar draws some intriguing conclusions for Syria from the latest elections in the Sunni regions of Iraq.

In Time, Vivienne Walt reports on Tunisia’s government’s response to Egypt’s coup. Mohammad Yassin al-Jalassi, writing in Al-Monitor, explains the growing tensions between Tunisia’s Islamist and opposition parties.

Victoria Almas, writing for The Jamestown Foundation, reports on how the "single most-hated person" in Uzbekistan is making deft use of social media for political gain.

Nick Thorpe of BBC News offers useful background on the motives behind Bulgaria’s long-running protests against the government.

In Business Insider, Adam Taylor interviews the elusive "Baba Jukwa," a mysterious character who has been leaking damaging information on Zimbabwe’s president as the country approaches elections.

And finally, writing for Sahel Blog, Leonardo A. Villalón offers an analysis of the approaching election in Mali.