Search

November 17, 2022 On October 21, 2022, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Select Committee) issued a subpoena to former President Donald [...]

November 19, 2021 The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on November 12, 2021, that a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, had indicted Stephen K. Bannon on two counts of [...]

Key Points* Iran's protest scene is evolving and has become more complex and demographically encompassing since the late-December 2017 widespread riots known as the Dey Protests.* Economic problems, government mismanagement, [...]

Key Points* Last year's Dey Protests spurred a vibrant and multifarious protest scene in Iran during 2018, but ongoing, disparate protests have yet to coalesce into widespread riots.* Iran's restless [...]

The war in eastern Ukraine between government security forces and Russian-backed separatists continues with no end in sight. The Minsk peace process under the auspices of the Organization for Security [...]

As discussed in this companion Sidebar, a former President retains the right to invoke executive privilege to protect covered communications that were made while in office. The strength of those [...]

The future of Sudan is uncertain after the ouster of Bashir It is often easier to oust an existing regime than to establish its replacement. History is rife with examples [...]

Last July, Daniel Vajdic and I traveled through Russia to interview leaders of six grass-roots organizations and movements. In three weeks, we traversed Russia from the far east to the [...]

The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) in Romania has criticised the government's intention to cap third-party car insurance (RCA) fees for six months and setting afterwards benchmark fees, the Ziarul Financiar [...]

Slovak teachers plan to protest on July 1, the day on which the Central European country takes over the EU's rotating presidency. The announcement sees workers in the education sector [...]

Macedonian anti-government protesters of the 'Colourful Revolution' held a large rally on June 20, during which they reiterated the demands of a June 6 ultimatum, which expired on June 18, [...]

Discussions are ongoing between political parties in Macedonia and the agreement for holding a new leaders' meeting is expected in the coming days, media in Skopje reported on June 14, [...]

In sharp contrast to the crackdown on May 21 land protests, Kazakh police stayed put and did not break another unauthorised rally a few days after, which this time was [...]

Romania's government will continue negotiations with trade unions this week and might endorse the ordinance on public sector wages on June 7, one week later than previously announced, Labour Minister [...]

Far-right nationalists from Ukraine's Azov movement gathered in Kyiv on May 20 to protest against possible local elections in the breakaway territories of the Donbas region. A rally near the [...]

Hungarian schools closed again on April 20 as teachers held a one-day strike against the government's centralised education system. Teachers and parents have been protesting the issue over recent months, [...]

Macedonia's state election commission said it will reveal the draft version of the final voters' registry by April 25 while the election campaign for the June snap election will start [...]

Hundreds of Hungarian teachers protested across the country on March 30, by walking out of classes for an hour. The demostration was just the latest in a series expressing discontent [...]

Hungary is considering education reform and the scrapping of its widely criticized state authority overseeing public education, an official said on March 22. The move, suggested by the state secretary [...]

An estimated 3,000 plus took to the streets of Bratislava on the evening of March 7 in an anti-fascism march. The peaceful protest followed the election of the neo-nazi LS-Nase [...]

Over the last half century, the Shi'ite community in Lebanon has emerged from obscurity to become the most influential political and military powerhouse in the country. With Iranian financial and [...]

Contents The Political Structure, Reform, and Human Rights Some Separation of Powers Established Post-Charter Elections and Political Groups 2002 Elections 2006 Elections: Allegations of Gerrymandering and 'Importing Sunnis' The 2010 [...]

Can protests cause political change, or are they merely symptoms of underlying shifts in policy preferences? We address this question by studying the Tea Party movement in the United States, which rose to prominence through coordinated rallies across the country on Tax Day, April 15, 2009. We exploit variation in rainfall on the day of these rallies as an exogenous source of variation in attendance. We show that good weather at this initial, coordinating event had significant consequences for the subsequent local strength of the movement, increased public support for Tea Party positions, and led to more Republican votes in the 2010 midterm elections. Policymaking was also affected, as incumbents responded to large protests in their district by voting more conservatively in Congress. Our estimates suggest significant multiplier effects: an additional protester increased the number of Republican votes by a factor well above one. Together our results show that protests can build political movements that ultimately affect policymaking, and that these effects arise from influencing political views rather than solely through the revelation of existing political preferences., I Introduction How does political change come about? While freedom of speech and assembly are central pillars of democracy, recognized as intrinsically valuable, it is unclear how effective the exercise [...]

Appendix I. Tables II. Figures III. Data Appendix Table A 1. a. County-Level Summary Statistics Counties Obs Mean S.D. Weather April 15, 2009 Precipitation 2,758 0.0884 0.208 (hundredths of inches) [...]

The political stability of the small island state of Bahrain--home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet--matters to the United States. And Sheikh Qassim, who simultaneously leads the Bahraini Shi'a majority's just struggle for a more democratic society and acts as an agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, matters to the future of Bahrain. A survey of the history of Shi'a activism in Bahrain, including Sheikh Qassim's political life, shows two tendencies: reform and revolution. Regardless of Sheikh Qassim's dual roles and the Shi'a protest movement's periodic ties to the regime in Tehran, the United States should do its utmost to reconcile the rulers and the ruled in Bahrain by defending the civil rights of the Bahraini Shi'a. This action would not only conform to the United States' principle of promoting democracy and human rights abroad, but also help stabilize Bahrain and the broader Persian Gulf region and undermine the ability of the regime in Tehran to continue to exploit the sectarian conflict in Bahrain in a way that broadens its sphere of influence and foments anti-Americanism., Every Friday, the elderly Ayatollah Isa Ahmad Qassim al-Dirazi al-Bahrani, more commonly known as Sheikh Qassim, climbs the stairs to the pulpit at the Imam al-Sadiq mosque in Diraz, Bahrain, [...]

(5/24/2012) Thailand has been battling an insurgency in its three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat for decades. For the most part, the violence has fit the definition of [...]

Summary After more than 40 years of authoritarian repression and over seven months of armed conflict, fundamental political change has come to Libya. The Libyan people, their interim Transitional National [...]

Summary Kenya, a nation of about 36.9 million people, has been an important ally of the United States for decades. Kenya moved from a one-party state to a multi-party democracy [...]

China's version of the Arab world's 'Jasmine Revolution' was a complete failure. Online calls for protests against Communist Party rule have elicited little response from would-be protesters. Yet Beijing's reaction was swift and overwhelming--harassing reporters, jailing dissidents, and ramping up its already-aggressive censorship of the Internet. Such tactics have left those both inside and outside the country puzzled. Why are China's leaders overreacting? Maybe they are not. The factors underlying this movement could prove lethal to the regime if left unaddressed. Future challenges will make tackling the problem even more difficult., On April 3, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei vanished from Beijing's airport. Noted for such iconic designs as the 2008 Olympic 'Bird's Nest' stadium, Ai is also a visible activist [...]

Contents Popular Revolution and Current Conflict Background Status as of March 18, 2011 Assessment U.S. and International Responses Current U.S. Policy Administration Views and Action President Obama's March 18 Remarks [...]

About a decade after founding the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died on June 3, 1989. The regime he established--enshrined in an Islamic republican constitution adopted in October 1979 and […]

May 26, 2009 Summary Thailand has been destabilized by years of political turmoil since a military coup deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006. Mass demonstrations on both sides [...]