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Our Democracy Depends on a Safe Election in November
News / May 26, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the effects could be potentially devastating to global democracy and the upcoming U.S. election. On the World Class podcast, Larry Diamond and Nathaniel Persily...
Samer Abboud Examines the Politics of Exclusion in Syria [VIDEO]
News / May 12, 2020
In a webinar dated May 12, 2020, Villanova University Scholar Samer Abboud examined the emergent "illiberal peace" in Syria. The absence of an internationally mandated or internally negotiated peace process, he argued, has allowed the Syrian regime to craft an illiberal peace as an outcome to the nearly decade-long conflict. This illiberal peace is shaped through a politics of exclusion in which Syrian society is bifurcated into the loyal and disloyal through processes of reconciliation, settlement, and new legal regimes of citizenship. Click below to watch the recording of the talk.
The COVID-19 Crisis Can Be A Historic Opportunity for Morocco
Commentary / May 5, 2020
[The following article originally appeared in French in Le Soir]
Over the past 20 years of exile, I returned to Morocco sporadically to visit family and friends. Now, I am here indefinitely until the coronavirus pandemic passes. I have observed its effects upon my homeland as not just a proud Moroccan, but also a trained social scientist assessing how the Moroccan state has responded – and how new social dynamics can emerge from it.
Covid-19 Crisis: Is a Showdown Between Public Health Imperatives and Civil Liberties Inevitable?
Commentary / April 10, 2020
David Studdert addresses the tradeoff between basic liberties and societal health in the current coronavirus pandemic in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective.
How We Can Manage the Pandemic and Preserve our Democracy
Commentary / March 27, 2020
COVID-19 presents us with both our worst public health crisis in a century and the greatest challenge to our democracy since World War II. Here is a national strategy to address both challenges, writes Larry Diamond. Read here.
Totalitarianism as a Mindset Can Be Anywhere
Commentary / March 27, 2020
The authors of “The End of History” and “Reading Lolita in Tehran” discuss coronavirus, Iran, James Baldwin, campus culture, and why imagination and literature are essential to combatting authoritarianism. Read here.
Populism Is a Political Problem That Is Putting Democracy At Risk, Stanford Scholars Say
Q&As / March 13, 2020
This article was originally published in Stanford News
Global Populism Is On the Rise But There Are Solutions, Say FSI Experts
News / March 12, 2020
Once associated with Latin American and post-communist democracies, populist parties and politicians have now gained support and power in established democracies.
How to Beat a Populist
Commentary / February 24, 2020
"Democrats don’t need to peddle in falsehood or invective to find lively and creative ways to communicate their message of hope, inspiration, and concrete policy alternatives, and to do so with passion and conviction," writes Larry Diamond in The American Interest.
Francis Fukuyama: Populism is a threat to democracy
Commentary / February 24, 2020
Countries retreating into closed systems and deciding to protect only their own groups could prevent international cooperation on climate change issues which is the only way to avert climate catastrophe, says Francis Fukuyama in conversation with Ana Kasparian. Watch here.
How to Fix Democracy | Larry Diamond
Commentary / February 4, 2020
"Freedom is inseparable from human dignity," says LarryDiamond for Bertelsmann Foundation talks on "How to Fix Democracy." The crisis is “bad, deepening, accelerating,” but he suggests several steps we can take to reverse the trend, such as ranked-choice voting to tackle the two-party system, and spreading “motor voter” laws to increase the number of registered voters. Watch the video here.
Stanford Experts Publish Recommendations to Safeguard Democratic Elections Around the World
Q&As / February 3, 2020
A Q&A with Professor Stephen Stedman, who serves as the Secretary General of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age.
Elections Globally Are Under Threat. Here's How to Protect Them
News / January 24, 2020
"The Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age found the rise of social media has caused irrevocable harm to global electoral integrity and democratic institutions—and the effects may get even worse," Paris Martineau writes in Wired. CDDRL's Deputy Director Stephen J. Stedman served as the Secretary-General of the Commission.
China and the global challenge to democracy
Commentary / January 16, 2020
In the inaugural episode of the Power 3.0 podcast, featured guest Larry Diamond discusses the Chinese Communist Party’s range of influence and interference activities that target the public, civic, and social institutions of democracies, including subnational governments, universities, think tanks, media, corporations, and ethnic Chinese communities. Listen here.
Where Does Tehran Go from Here? Abbas Milani on Post-Soleimani Life in Iran
News / January 15, 2020
The January 3 assassination by the United States of Qassem Soleimani — the commander of Iran’s Quds Force — transformed Iran, Abbas Milani told Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Director Michael McFaul on the World Class podcast.
Posters of Soleimani’s face were plastered everywhere, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni announced three official days of mourning, and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to grieve Soleimani’s death, Milani explained.
Francis Fukuyama on Why We Should All Be Paying Attention to Ukraine
News / December 12, 2019
Of all of the countries in the world attempting a transition to democracy, Francis Fukuyama thinks that Ukraine is the most promising.
“The election of [Volodymyr] Zelensky and the new parliament is just a miracle,” Fukuyama told Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) Director Michael McFaul on the World Class podcast. “Can you imagine, a country getting rid of two-thirds of its parliament and starting over with new people, many of whom are under 35 years old?”
A Season of Caesars
Commentary / December 12, 2019
"Ideologically, today’s autocrats are a more motley and pragmatic crew. They generally claim to be market friendly, but mainly they are crony capitalists, who, like Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary, and Erdogan in Turkey, are first concerned with enriching themselves, their families, and their parties and support networks.
Presidential candidates advance by being divisive. We can do better than that.
Commentary / December 6, 2019
"What if we had a better way to select presidential nominees, one that didn’t reward appeals to the most ideologically committed voters and donors in each party? What if we weren’t trying to excite the already convinced — to vote, to contribute and to volunteer on campaigns? This pulls each party toward more militant postures and deepens polarization. What if we prized substantive dialogue across the partisan divides over intense mobilization within them?
An Existential Moment for Democracy?
Commentary / December 2, 2019
“What saves citizens from the knock on the door in the dead of night, from the risk of being silenced or removed, is a constitution, a robust body of laws, an independent judiciary to enforce them, and a culture that insists on free elections, human rights, and human dignity,” says Larry Diamond for Stanford Magazine.
The Impeachment Conundrum
Commentary / November 5, 2019
The Democrats are facing a dilemma: If they defend democratic norms by acting to remove President Trump from office, they risk getting dragged into a polarizing style of politics that works to his political advantage. Read here.
Can Egypt’s Democratic Hopes Be Revived?
Commentary / November 1, 2019
In today’s Egypt, commitment to democracy appears scarce among actors both within the regime and in civil society, and public-opinion polls further suggest that demands for democratic governance have been abandoned. An undemocratic political understanding and disenchantment with the concept of democracy seemingly prevail among a majority of the population.
Macron versus the Yellow Vests
Commentary / October 31, 2019
Since November 2018, a grassroots revolt of the forgotten lower middle classes from France’s far-flung suburbs and rural areas has risen against high taxes; social injustice; and the elites, President Emmanuel Macron foremost among them. Although this “Yellow Vest” movement is not dead, it is now weakened by internal feuds, excessive violence, a takeover by the far left, and Macron’s deft handling.
ARD Conference Examines Authoritarian Upgrading, Popular Uprisings and Foreign Interventions in the Middle East
News / October 14, 2019
CDDRL’s Program on Arab Reform and Democracy held its annual conference at Stanford University on October 11 and 12, titled “The Struggle for Political Change in the Arab World.” The conference is an outgrowth of ARD’s efforts to support new research on the dynamics of political change in the countries of the Arab world.
America in One Room
Q&As / October 13, 2019
Are we really more divided than ever, politically? The results of 'America in One Room' show we're not.