Iraq’s al-Sudani Government, One Year Later

Iraq’s al-Sudani Government, One Year Later

Thursday, November 2, 2023

By: Sarhang Hamasaeed

Last week marked one year since Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani assumed office. His ascension to the role came after a year of deep political tensions, several alarming but contained episodes of violence, and no annual government budget. A political agreement among the Shia coalition known as the Coordination Framework and major Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties set the stage for the al-Sudani government to form — meanwhile, the biggest winner in the 2021 parliamentary elections, cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr, decided to withdraw from the political process altogether.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

How Constituency Development Funds Undermine Solomon Islands’ Democracy

How Constituency Development Funds Undermine Solomon Islands’ Democracy

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

By: Georgina Kekea;  Anouk Ride

Solomon Islands is a relatively young democracy, with elections often both an exciting and tense occasion. Particularly heated contests occasionally result in violence in the form of brawls and, in one case in 2014, a shooting. The electoral system itself is modelled off the U.K. and appears relatively democratic on the surface. But many Solomon Islanders have voiced criticism that candidates can win with fewer than half the votes, and the lack of a public role in electing the prime minister helped spark riots in 2006.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

Guatemala: Líderes Indígenas Encabezan Campaña por la Democracia a Nivel Nacional

Guatemala: Líderes Indígenas Encabezan Campaña por la Democracia a Nivel Nacional

Friday, October 20, 2023

By: Lucila Del Aguila;  Mary Speck, Ph.D.

Cuando el candidato anticorrupción Bernardo Arévalo ganó en agosto la presidencia de Guatemala, sus seguidores urbanos salieron a las calles en jubilo. Dos meses después, todavía siguen allí, pero no celebrando, sino protestando en contra de los ataques de la fiscal general guatemalteca hacia la elección de Arévalo. Este mes, las manifestaciones se propagaron a nivel nacional al convocar las autoridades indígenas a una huelga exigiendo la renuncia de la fiscal. El liderazgo de las protestas por parte de los pueblos indígenas marginados de Guatemala conlleva tanto peligro como promesa. La inestabilidad en las regiones rurales empobrecidas podría provocar olas adicionales de migrantes hacia la frontera de Estados Unidos.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

Guatemala: Indigenous Leaders Take Democracy Campaign Nationwide

Guatemala: Indigenous Leaders Take Democracy Campaign Nationwide

Friday, October 20, 2023

By: Lucila Del Aguila;  Mary Speck, Ph.D.

When anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo won Guatemala’s presidency in August, his urban supporters took to the streets in celebration. Two months later, they are still there, not in celebration but in protest against challenges to Arévalo’s election led by the country’s attorney general. This month, the protests went national when Indigenous authorities called a strike demanding the attorney general’s resignation. The participation of Guatemala’s marginalized Indigenous peoples in nationwide protests holds both peril and promise. Instability in the impoverished rural hinterland could send additional waves of migrants toward the U.S. border. But the Indigenous population’s defense of elections could also prove a watershed moment for Guatemalan democracy.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

Cautious Hopes for a Breakthrough in Venezuela

Cautious Hopes for a Breakthrough in Venezuela

Monday, October 16, 2023

By: Mark Feierstein

Hopes that an election in Venezuela next year might resolve the country’s political divisions and revive a moribund economy have reemerged as the Biden administration and Nicolás Maduro’s regime are reportedly near an agreement to lift some U.S. sanctions in return for steps to hold a fair contest in 2024. Still, considering recent history, skepticism abounds among the international community that the authoritarian government would allow an opposition candidate to win the election and take office.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance

Haïti a besoin d'un dialogue politique parallèlement à la mission de sécurité multinationale

Haïti a besoin d'un dialogue politique parallèlement à la mission de sécurité multinationale

Thursday, October 5, 2023

By: Keith Mines

Cette semaine, le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU a voté en faveur de l'envoi d'une force armée multinationale en Haïti dans l'espoir de faire face à la violence endémique des gangs et à l'instabilité qui sévissent dans la nation caribéenne en difficulté. Bien qu'il n'y ait pas encore de calendrier officiel pour son déploiement, la force dirigée par le Kenya sera confrontée à un environnement sécuritaire complexe, d'autant plus rendu redoutable par les troubles politiques persistants en Haïti. Le succès de la mission dépendra non seulement de la capacité de la force déployée à établir rapidement la paix, mais aussi de sa capacité à ouvrir la voie à une réinitialisation gouvernementale significative et démocratique dans ce pays historiquement tumultueux.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & GovernanceGlobal Policy

Can Algeria Help Niger Recover From Its Army Coup?

Can Algeria Help Niger Recover From Its Army Coup?

Thursday, October 5, 2023

By: Kamissa Camara;  Donna Charles

Democracies and democracy advocates should welcome this week’s tenuously hopeful sign in Algeria’s announcement that the 10-week-old military junta in Niger has accepted Algiers’ offer to mediate in a transition to civilian, constitutional rule. Still, Algeria’s government and the junta left unclear the extent of any agreement on mediation, notably disagreeing on a basic element: the duration of a transition process. Algeria can bring significant strengths to a mediating role. In stepping forward from what most often has been a cautious posture in the region, Algeria creates an opportunity that international partners should seek to strengthen.

Type: Analysis

Civilian-Military RelationsDemocracy & Governance

Haiti Needs a Political Dialogue Alongside the Multinational Security Mission

Haiti Needs a Political Dialogue Alongside the Multinational Security Mission

Thursday, October 5, 2023

By: Keith Mines

This week, the U.N. Security Council voted to send a multinational armed force to Haiti in the hopes of addressing the beleaguered Caribbean nation’s rampant gang violence and instability. While there is not yet an official timeline for its deployment, the Kenyan-led force will face a complex security environment — one that has been made all the more daunting by Haiti’s ongoing political turmoil. Whether the mission succeeds will hinge not only on the deployed force’s ability to quickly establish peace, but whether or not it can pave the way toward a meaningful and democratic government reset in the historically tumultuous country.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & GovernanceGlobal Policy

What to Know About Gabon’s Coup

What to Know About Gabon’s Coup

Thursday, August 31, 2023

By: Archibald S. Henry;  Elizabeth Murray

On August 30, just hours after Gabon’s election commission announced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been elected to a third term, a group of Gabonese military officers from the elite presidential guard unit seized power and placed the president under arrest at his palace. Later that day, the officers declared General Brice Oligui Nguema as chairman of the transition. While the election itself had been marred by reports of irregularities, the officers’ coup marks the latest in a long line of recent military takeovers across the African continent that have jeopardized regional stability and security.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance