Analyses
Cuba’s Twin Embargoes
Donato Di Santo 2 September 2026
For decades, Latin America’s authoritarian regimes were seen as a right-wing phenomenon, with Cuba as the lone exception — a dictatorship born not from a betrayal of democracy, but of revolution. As Washington’s embargo returns to the headlines, this piece asks what that framing has long obscured: that Cuba has never had just one embargo, but two.
  • Osman Kavala: a significant anti-democratic arrest
    Lea Nocera 6 November 2017
    A little less than a year and a half after the attempted coup d’état, the political and social situation in Turkey continues to be extremely critical. The vice on the opposition and on civil society, which in spite of everything continues the struggle in defence of democratic rights, becomes tighter every day.
  • The Struggle for Cultural Power in Turkey
    Nilgün Tutal 3 November 2017
    After the failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, the AKP set about securing what Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to as ‘social and cultural power’. Nilgün Tutal studies processes of Islamisation in Ankara and Istanbul, showing how the political struggle in Turkey is about the imposition of a ‘legitimate’ cultural vision.
  • Counter-secularism and Religious Revival
    Assaf Sharon 31 October 2017
    It was not very long ago that religion was regarded as a relic, at least as far as politics are concerned. Now this picture itself seems an artifact of history. With the gods once again afoot in the public square, religion has returned to occupy political actors and theorists alike. Especially salient, of course, is the nationalist brand of religious revivalism, unmistakably associated with the indiscriminate political violence that has become a fixture of contemporary life.
  • Russian Art Under Illiberal Regime
    Sergei A. Medvedev 26 October 2017
    This is the text of a lecture which will be delivered by prof. Sergei A. Mevdev (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) at the Conference Dimensions and Challenges of Russian Liberalism on Friday, Oct. 27.
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    Kurdistan and Iraq, Bordering on War
    Ilaria Romano 25 October 2017
    It took no longer than two days to bring the territory back under the control of the Regional Government of Kurdistan at the end of 2014. In the space of 48 hours, the Iraqi army and the Hashd al-Shaabi shi’ite militia integrated into it took control of Kirkuk, it was swiftly followed by the recapture of Dibus, Makhmur, Khanaqin, Jalawla, Gwer, Bashiqa and Sinjar.
  • Philippines: Marawi siege ended but discriminations against Moro people continue
    Matteo Miavaldi 18 October 2017
    On May 23, 2017, hundreds of Isis-inspired terrorists swiftly gained control of Marawi City in Mindanao, the Philippines’ southernmost archipelago. The terrorist offensive came in response to the attempted arrest of Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, on behalf of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
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