Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, February 3, 2014

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Christian Caryl proposes a solution to Ukraine’s ongoing crisis. Meanwhile, Gavin Weise analyzes the challenges that face the divided opposition movement.

Miriam Lanskoy and Dylan Myles-Primakoff argue that the controversial Sochi Olympics might end up being good for Russia.

Juan Nagel reports on Venezuela’s latest price controls, which just might be the final blow to the country’s embattled private business sector.

Daniel Scher and Christine MacAulay explain how Rwanda leveraged tradition to rebuild local government in the wake of genocide.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

Aron Lund, writing for the Carnegie Endowment’s new Syria Blog, looks at the background behind al Qaeda’s decision to break with its former affiliate in the Syrian civil war.

Writing for the Atlantic, Larry Diamond urges Burma’s legal and moral leaders to tackle the deadly problem of sectarian violence. The New Republic‘s Graeme Wood warns that anti-Muslim pogroms could be a prelude to the world’s new genocide.

In the New York Review of Books, Christopher de Bellaigue probes the dangerous conflict between Turkey’s Prime Minister and the deeply religious Gulen Movement.

The Council on Foreign Relations offers an interactive map of easily preventable diseases across the world.

On African Arguments, Louisa Lombard warns against overuse of the word "genocide" to describe what is happening in the Central African Republic.

In the Wall Street Journal, David Luhnow examines Latin America’s "continental divide" on economic policy, where Atlantic states prefer state control, and Pacific prefer free markets.

Writing for Al Jazeera, Larry Jagan explains why the latest political confrontations in Bangkok have brought Thai democracy to a dangerous crossroads. (In the photo above, an anti-government demonstrator takes aim at pro-election protesters before Thailand’s Sunday elections.)

Also on Al Jazeera, Jason Hickel takes issue with the conventional wisdom on corruption.

In the World Post, Sandro Lutyens finds cause for optimism as Tunisia’s new, imperfect constitution ushers in a "Tunisian Spring."