Legislators in a growing number of democracies are clamping down on civil society. In the United States, it’s happening at the state level.
Venezuelans carry buckets filled with water. A power outage that began on March 7 left much of the capital, Caracas, without electricity, running water or public transportation for days.
Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
Citing security concerns, the US is evacuating its embassy in Caracas, where President Maduro blames the US for a calamitous power outage. Venezuela’s relations with Brazil are eroding quickly, too.
Clashes between opposition protesters and Venezuelan soldiers at the Venezuela-Brazil border have killed an estimated 25 people.
AP Photo/Edmar Barros
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and Adriana Abdenur, Escola de Guerra Naval (ESG)
Brazil’s president has threatened military intervention in neighboring Venezuela, called its leader a ‘dictator’ and sent troops to the border. But Brazil’s military is quietly working to avoid war.
From 2008 to 2019, gospel news websites expanded enormously in Brazil. To what extent can their conservative views affect the rights of minority groups?
After 48 hours of frantic effort, Brazilian rescue workers have called off their search for survivors at a collapsed dam in Minas Gerais state.
AP Photo/Leo Correa
Nearly 1,800 Brazilian dams are at risk of failure, according to the government. Fixing them is expensive – but ignoring aging dams can have considerable social, economic and environmental costs.
Munduruku tribal people are demanding that Brazil’s government respect their land rights.
AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
Brazil’s new president could clear the way for plans to develop remote areas around the Tapajos River basin over the objections of the indigenous people who live there.
Though best remembered for her role in the doomed German Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg’s theories on how capitalism exploits people and nature need hearing today.
Jair Bolsonaro at his inauguration on Jan 1, 2019.
EPA-EFE/Marcelo Sayao
Brazil’s new president – often called the ‘Trump of the tropics’ for his inflammatory, right-wing rhetoric – won over poorer voters by stoking fear and resentment. Can he make them happy?
Thirty percent of global emissions will be generated from democracies governed by populist nationalist leaders who have very different playbooks than more traditional politicians.
Days before their Oct. 28 presidential election, Brazilians protested news that supporters of right-wing front-runner Jair Bolsonaro had used WhatsApp to spread false information about his opponents.
Reuters/Nacho Doce
Facebook retired its ‘Move fast and break things’ slogan – perhaps because, as new research from Brazil confirms, democracy is among the things left broken by online misinformation and fake news.
Ontario PC leadership candidate Tanya Granic Allen arrives to participate in a debate in Ottawa in February 2018. Granic Allen was supported by the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), and the organization said it recruited more than 9,000 PC memberships in support of her campaign to became the premier of Ontario.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Christian right groups in Canada may not have the same resources as their American counterparts. They are, nonetheless, attracting supporters by borrowing some U.S. tactics.
Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks about the upcoming changes his administration will impose on national security during the national peace and security plan conference in Mexico City on Nov. 14, 2018.
(AP Photo/Anthony Vazquez)
The success or failure of Mexico’s new president will have an impact on politics in the rest of Latin America as right-wing forces reclaim power. Is a brighter future for the region possible?
Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, and Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York