Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, September 8, 2015

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In Democracy Lab’s seventh case study about ideas that work in curbing corruption, Christofer Berglund and Johan Engvall tell the story of Georgia’s notoriously corrupt higher education system — and of how the country cleaned up its act.

And don’t forget: On September 17, the Legatum Institute and Democracy Lab are hosting a panel discussion in London to discuss the major challenges facing the global anti-corruption movement.

Ievgen Vorobiov explains why a grenade attack by a right-wing radical at a protest in front of Kiev’s Parliament augurs trouble for Ukraine’s fragile democracy.

Robert Looney warns that time might be running out for the Angolan regime.

Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez captures the bitter irony of the expulsion of hundreds of Colombians by Venezuela’s president Maduro — since he may be one himself.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

The BBC takes a look at what Burma’s political opening has meant for the country’s working people. Meanwhile, in the World Post, Timothy McLaughlin and Hnin Yadana Zaw highlight the growing political acumen of a virulently anti-Muslim Buddhist organization.

The International Crisis Group has released a report calling for a new approach to the conflict in Syria — the authors argue that preventing the regime’s aerial attacks could improve chances of a political settlement.

With the sudden resignation of Guatemala’s President Otto Pérez Molina last week, Democracy Digest has a useful roundup of coverage of the corruption scandal and protest movement that brought him down. (In the photo, demonstrators demand the resignation of Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina over a corruption scandal in Guatemala City on September 2.)

In Bloomberg View, Lenoid Bershidsky highlights an interesting anti-corruption effort in Romania: legalizing bribery.

In the Atlantic Council’s New Atlanticist blog, Anders Aslund calls for rapid privatization of Ukraine’s failing state-owned enterprises to reduce corruption and unfetter the private economy.

The Economist takes a critical look at arguments that China and Singapore are examples of successful meritocratic systems.

As Cambodia cracks down on independent non-profits, Josie Cohen of Global Witness asks whether the pending case against the country’s ruling elite at the International Criminal Court could bring relief.

In The Wall Street Journal, Yaroslav Trofimov reports on growing divisions between north and south Yemen as the country’s civil war winds down.

Photo credit: RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP/Getty Images