"Malaysia's recent electoral earthquake has opened the way to a transition to democracy. This is a big positive development at a time when democracy globally needs a lift," writes Larry Diamond in this American Interest article.

“When you see something wrong, don’t be a bystander,” Annan responded. “You are never too young to lead. Don’t let my generation tell you, ‘Shut up and wait your turn.’ If there’s something you feel that you can do something about, do it. Work across racial, religious and other lines. Don’t accept divisions you see in society,” said former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan in conversation with CDDRL Mosbacher Director Francis Fukuyama. Read the article here and watch the video here.

At an event co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Hoover Institution, "former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou addressed a crowd of 400 University faculty, students and local community members in his Wednesday talk on democracy, cross-strait relations and future challenges facing Taiwan." Read The Stanford Daily's full coverage of President Ma's visit here. 

CDDRL Mosbacher director Francis Fukuyama spoke with Alexander Görlach for The WorldPost about U.S. President Donald Trump, the populist wave sweeping Europe and “fake news.” Read here.

"Since 1978, China’s authoritarian political system has been different from virtually all other dictatorships in part because the ruling Communist Party has been subject to rules regarding succession. Term limits for senior leadership have kicked in at regular 10-year intervals three times so far, and the party’s system of cultivating and training new leaders to replace the outgoing ones had allowed it to avoid the stagnation of countries like Egypt, Zimbabwe, Libya or Angola, where presidents ruled for decades. But all of this is out the window now because of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent announcement that term limits on the presidency will be abolished. This means that he will likely be China’s ruler for the rest of his life, turning at one stroke an institutionalized autocracy into a personal one. This builds upon the massive cult of personality he has been cultivating, with “Xi Jinping Thought” now canonized in the Constitution alongside Chairman Mao," writes CDDRL Mosbacher Director Francis Fukuyama in Washington Post. Read the article here. 

"There is growing consensus that populism constitutes a grave threat to liberal democracy, and to the liberal international order on which peace and prosperity have rested for the past two generations," writes Francis Fukuyama in the World Economic Forum. The fate of the global liberal order could be jeopardized due to rising populist powers and movements. Read the full article here. 

"For those who believe that liberal democracy constitutes the best form of government, the rise of populist nationalism is a very worrying phenomenon," writes Francis Fukuyama in Credit Suisse Research Institute's "The Future of Politics." Read the full article here.

China has been working on refining a "vast network of digital espionage as a means of social control." Regarding this practice and its future implications, "China’s experiments with digital surveillance pose a grave new threat to freedom of expression on the internet and other human rights in China," says Larry Diamond in The Atlantic. Read the full article here. 

The disqualification of democracy activist Agnes Chow Ting from running in the Hong Kong legislature’s by-election was “outrageous”, says Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Read the article here.