Earlier this month, protests against Comoran President Azali Assoumani turned violent, as armed protesters squared off against the military in the old town of Mutsamudu. Located on the archipelagic country’s island of Anjouan, the city has seen a wave of protests from locals following Assoumani’s victory in a controversial referendum, which upends the country’s power-sharing arrangement, held earlier this summer.

Over the past decade, democracy has regressed in much of Asia, though there are notable exceptions including Malaysia and Taiwan. Southeast Asia has witnessed a reversal in Thailand, weakening instit…

The final days of 2021 in the Horn of Africa are demonstrating just how contagious authoritarianism and contempt for popular will can be—and how dangerous.

The alarming reports out of Tanzania have become commonplace. Current Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who swept into office on a popular anti-corruption platform, has been presiding over a shocking decline in political and civil rights in the country. Civil society leaders, opposition politicians, journalists, and businesspeople feel unsafe on their own soil—and with good reason.

This article first appeared here on ForeignPolicy.com on July 5, 2018 A few summers ago, a Turkish military officer stopped me to chat after a lecture I gave at a conference in Washington. During …