Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, October 6, 2014
To catch Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Christian Caryl looks at the underreported role of Christian activists in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Peter Rutland argues that the demonstrators’ struggle is also driven by pride in their unique Hong Kong identity. Asma Ghribi reports on the ominous political comeback of ...
To catch Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Christian Caryl looks at the underreported role of Christian activists in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Peter Rutland argues that the demonstrators’ struggle is also driven by pride in their unique Hong Kong identity.
Asma Ghribi reports on the ominous political comeback of figures from Tunisia’s pre-revolutionary regime.
Kristen Sample and Jorge Valladares M. offer advice to countries trying to combat corruption — and suggest that they focus on putting policy at the center of political campaigns.
And as Brazil gears up for the second round of its presidential election, we offer two new Lab Reports on the Latin American superpower: Anna Petherick examines the complexities of gender politics, while Gregory Michener and Carlos Pereira explain the deal-making the winner will have to master in order to implement much-needed reforms.
And now for this week’s recommended reads:
In the New Yorker, Emily Parker explains how pro-democracy protesters are turning social media to their own advantage. Garry Kasparov, writing in the Washington Post, argues that protesters in China have been more successful because the government there needs its people in a way that other autocracies, like Russia’s, do not. Also in the Post, Eric X. Li argues that more democracy isn’t the answer to Hong Kong’s problems.
Writing for the New York Review of Books, Kenneth Roth responds to criticisms of the work of international human rights organizations.
Shikha Dalmia highlights four policy issues that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have focused on during his recent crowd-pleasing trip to the United States.
Writing for Monkey Cage, Silvana Toska untangles the complex web of Yemeni politics in the wake of the Houthi rebels’ takeover in Sanaa.
The Irrawaddy‘s Jared Ferrie and Thin Lei Win offer a critical look at the Burmese government’s controversial new "path to citizenship" for its oppressed Rohingya minority. (In the photo above, Hindus gather around a statue of the goddess Durga in Yangon on Oct. 3.)
In the New York Times, Jenna Krajeski and Sebastian Meyer suggest that how the Kurds deal with the threat of the Islamic State will be a good test of how well they could manage an independent Kurdistan.
CogitAsia’s Nigel Cory tracks the Malaysian government’s use of colonial-era anti-sedition laws to attack political opponents.
Omnia al-Desoukie, reporting for Egypt Pulse, interviews Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour, who says that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the biggest threat to Egypt’s future.
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