August 22nd, 2011

Conference compares wartime experiences in Asia and Europe

While differences exist in the wartime circumstances and reconciliation processes of Europe and Asia, many valuable lessons can be gained through a study of the experiences on both continents. The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center facilitated a comparative dialogue on World War Two, bringing together 15 noted experts for the Colonialism, Collaboration, and Criminality conference, held June 16 to 17 at Stanford.
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August 1st, 2011

Political order in Egypt

In the May-June edition of The American Interest, Francis Fukuyama traces the contemporary history of U.S. development policy and its failure to incorporate Huntingtonian-style theory, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of economy, politics, and society. Using Egypt as an example, Fukuyama calls for policymakers to break down their silos to more holistically examine and support democratic transitions. Read more »

May 23rd, 2011

A fourth wave or a false start?

In a new piece published on the Foreign Affairs website, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond argues that the Arab Spring is witnessing a thawing and freezing across the region as anti-democratic forces threaten nascent democratic transformations. Diamond emphasizes the point that “even if the Arab spring comes in fits and starts, it will eventually bring fundamental political change. But whether democracy is the end result depends in part on how events unfold and how regimes and international actors engage the opposition forces.” Diamond ends with some concrete suggestions to American policy-makers on how to more strategically engage the region to ensure that this unique democratic opening is not missed. Read more »

March 14th, 2011

Scott D. Sagan: What the world thinks of Obama's nuclear policy

In a special issue of The Nonproliferation Review, edited by CISAC's Scott Sagan and Harvard's Jane Vaynman, 13 prominent researchers from around the world examined foreign governments’ policy responses to the president's 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, the landmark document published last April. Read more »

February 16th, 2011

Larry Diamond: Transition traps

After the peaceful mass uprising that toppled one of the world’s oldest autocracies, it is now possible to imagine the emergence of a genuine democracy in Egypt—the most important country in the Arab world, writes Larry Diamond, director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, in The New Republic. The very possibility of it marks an historic turning point for the entire region. However, Diamond cautions, there is a long and often treacherous distance between the demise of an authoritarian regime and the rise of a democracy. Read more »

February 7th, 2011

Diamond provides recommendations for a post-Mubarak world

Two decades after the fall of Soviet-bloc dictatorships, popular movements for democracy are erupting in the last regional bastion of authoritarianism: the Arab world. So far, only Tunisia's dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, has been toppled, while Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak-who has ruled that ancient land longer than many pharaohs-announced Tuesday that he will step down in September. But other Arab autocrats are bound to go. From Algeria to Syria to Jordan, people are fed up with stagnation and injustice, and are mobilizing for democratic change. Read more »

January 18th, 2011

Larry Diamond on Tunisia's uncertain transition

The toppling of a brutal, corrupt, and long-ruling dictator, Zine el Abidine ben Ali, is an extraordinary achievement for the diverse elements of Tunisian society who came out into the streets in recent weeks to demand change. Ben Ali’s startling fall is another reminder of how suddenly political change can come in authoritarian regimes that substitute force, fear, and fraud for legitimacy. Such regimes may appear stable for very long periods of time, but when the people lose their fear and the army refuses to fire on the people, they can unravel very quickly. Read more »