Democracy in Trouble
Washington Post, September 20, 2004; Fred Hiatt

After the fall of communism in the late 1980s and early 90s, many saw a grand new global trend towards greater freedom, democracy, and humanity. Democracies seemed to spring from where even the coldest dictatorship had held sway for years; a new global peace was imagined as a result of this growth in democracies. Yet in the years since, as Mr. Hiatt points out, the optimism of democracy has faced some uncomfortable situations, from Russia to China. Though much of the piece is pessimistic, or at least uncomfortable, Mr. Hiatt manages in the end to make a point we would all be well in noting. “Vladimer Putin has demonstrated that freedom is distressingly reversible… If… people realize democratization takes constant effort and engagement, the lesson could be a constructive one.”

CCD, in the same spirit, has recently supported a new Initiative known as a Democracy Transition Center. Our hope is that countries and people that may be struggling with democratization will be able to come to the Democracy Transition Center to gain valuable advice and assistance from nations that have recently undergone similar changes. For more information on our DTC program, click here.