More than Elections: How Democracies Transfer Power
The 1960 presidential election was among the most closely fought in U.S. history. So close that supporters of Vice President Richard M. Nixon urged him to challenge the results. Nixon declined. “Even if we were to win in the end,” he explained, “the cost in world opinion and the effect on democracy in the broadest [...]
Ingredients of a Resilient Democracy
Democratic elections require more than the casting and counting of ballots. In a healthy democracy, elections hold governments accountable to the governed. This happens when:
• Citizens are free to select their political representatives.
• Citizens can choose among candidates seeking their support.
• Officeholders must be re-elected to retain their positions after a specified interval. They face [...]
The Lasting Impact of Digital Media on Civil Society
New information technologies are profoundly reshaping political culture. Twenty-first–century civil society relies upon the Internet and other communication devices for its infrastructure, and for a digital “safe harbor” in which civic conversations can incubate. This is especially true in countries where the national print and broadcast media are heavily censored. In short, technology has empowered [...]
How a Partially Free Election Altered Poland
The famous image of Hollywood star Gary Cooper from the 1952 western “High Noon” was used during the Polish elections of June 1989, with Cooper sporting a “Solidarity” badge in his lapel. But the true hero in the election, which brought down Poland’s Communist regime, was not a town sheriff killing the bad guys, but [...]
Authoritarian Rule to European Union: Romania and Moldova
Since the demise of communism in the Soviet Union and its East European satellite states, those nations have established democracy at different paces and with varying degrees of success. One means to explore the reasons for this divergence, and to learn more about the conditions in which democracy thrives, is to study how comparable nations [...]
Serbian Autumn” Delayed: A Lesson in Uncivil Democracy-Building
Autumn is often a risky time of the year for Serbian leaders. Faced with a bitterly cold Balkan winter and frustrated by personal and economic hardships, Serbs tend to look for change. In the last days of September 1987, Slobodan Milosevic ousted his longtime mentor Ivan Stambolic and changed the course of Balkan history. Mindful [...]
Putting Washington at the Service of the Middle Class
In his State of the Union Address tonight, the President laid out an agenda attempting to attack one problem from every conceivable angle: the terrible squeeze felt by America’s middle class. Fundamentally, that means prying government away from special interests and dedicating it to measures that put Americans to work and lay the foundation for [...]
Unrestricted, Secure Internet Access Critical, United States Says
The Obama administration is continuing its efforts to promote universal and uncensored access to the Internet around the world, viewing it as a critical element to modern economies and societies, the State Department’s Alec Ross said January 14.
Ross, who serves as senior adviser for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, told reporters in [...]
Barack Obama’s Cabinet Selections Complete
Top priorities for the new president will be the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there are many other important domestic and international concerns.
President Obama’s Responses to SMS Questions
Questions Submitted by and Selected by Africans
ia_eng_071009_ghn_smsquestions.mp3
President Obama:
Africa is vital to our security interests. Consequently, we asked people from all around Africa to submit questions about my administration’s priorities for USA policy in Africa.
Hundreds of people submitted questions by text, on Twitter, by e-mail, and over other social networking sites. We asked a panel of [...]
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