After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, hopes ran high that the wave of the future would be democracies, market economies and respect for human rights.
But these expectations have not come to fruition. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, human rights and democracy in many countries have been thwarted by a new form of authoritarianism, with methods of control significantly more sophisticated than used by totalitarian regimes in the past, according to a new report.
This report, “Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians,” was released on Capitol Hill, June 4, which was the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
The 80-page document finds that four authoritarian states—China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela—are setting forth a new authoritarian model for countries to follow, and they have the resources and sophistication to be highly influential in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Read more.