Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, November 16, 2015

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Christian Caryl reports on the stunning rise of Facebook in Burma, and the key role it played in last week’s election. Francis Wade explains why real control of government institutions may elude the opposition even after its landslide victory.

Michael Albertus shows how Venezuela’s government uses land reform to punish its enemies and reward its supporters.

Farah Samti tells the story of her beleaguered Tunisian hometown, which has so far seen little benefit from the establishment of democracy.

Marcel Dirsus warns that the Democratic Republic of Congo faces turmoil if President Joseph Kabila doesn’t give up power as the constitution requires.

Iryna Fedets points out that Ukraine’s top television channels remain under the control of oligarchs who aren’t necessarily interested in balanced reporting.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

Writing for Foreign Policy in Focus, John Feffer contends that the compromise between Burma’s victorious opposition and the military, which still holds much of the power, is a useful stepping-stone in the country’s challenging transition. The Economist offers a useful statistical breakdown of the election results. And, for a bit of perspective on the otherwise encouraging news, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) provides an update of the situation facing imprisoned activists.

In FP, John Hannah laments the political resurgence of Turkish President Recep Erdogan and his AKP party, which, after stoking nationalist fervor, have reclaimed their parliamentary majority. The Center for International Media Assistance releases a report by Andrew Finkel detailing how Turkey’s news media has been “captured” by political interests.

In the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, Kate Cronin-Furman and Michael Broache argue that it’s misleading to call the political violence breaking out in Burundi “genocide.” Also in the Monkey Cage, Daniel Krcmaric and Thomas Gift look into a tantalizing question: does having a Western education make a leader more likely to democratize his country?

Brookings Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid gives congressional testimony about rising repression in Egypt under President al-Sissi and how the United States should respond.

In the Wall Street Journal, Josef Joffe offers high praise for recently deceased former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who, he argues, saved the country’s democracy from its internal enemies.

And finally, David Boyle reports for Deutsche Welle that the leader of Cambodia’s opposition is vowing to stand up to the government, which has just ordered his arrest.

In the photo, an Aung San Suu Kyi supporter celebrates her party’s electoral victory outside its headquarters in Rangoon on November 9, 2015.

Photo credit: ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images