Comment archive

Wednesday, 30 Mar 2022
Putin May Fall

We can be pretty sure that the likelihood of both a coup and a revolution in Russia is significantly higher today than it was a couple of months ago. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks like becoming a historic event with far-reaching consequences. Alongside the loss of human life and devastation ...

Thursday, 15 Apr 2021
From Peaceful Protest to Civil Conflict in Myanmar

Resistance to the 1 February, 2021 military coup in Myanmar is symbolised by a recent video: Images of young protesters killed by Myanmar’s Security Forces are accompanied by lyrics: “We are ghosts. We are already dead. If we die again today, in this life and the next, we will haunt ...

Wednesday, 10 Mar 2021
An Already Failing Peace Process Betrayed in Myanmar

The February 1st military coup in Myanmar and the massive demonstrations that followed have deservedly gained the world’s attention. The people of Myanmar have had their taste of democracy, however fragile it was, and now refuse to let go of it. But what about peace in Myanmar? Myanmar’s Peace Process ...

Wednesday, 3 Mar 2021
Myanmar – from one dictatorship to another

The coup d’état in Myanmar marks a defeat for the military’s attempt to create a “discipline-flourishing” democracy. The coup occurred on 1 February, just before the newly elected parliament was set to convene. This timing made it easy to arrest the country’s leading politicians. The military used allegations of electoral ...

Friday, 4 Sept 2020
Can Mali’s democracy wait?

Mali cannot afford another rushed and destabilizing election process. Sustaining and strengthening international cooperation should be the first priority, even if this implies a temporary military regime. No surprise, but very inconvenient Mali’s recent coup – the third in three decades – came as no surprise. An escalating civil war, ...

Thursday, 27 Aug 2020
Mali’s Coup Leaves a Leadership Vacuum: Can the country rebuild stronger?

In the early morning hours of Wednesday 19 August, the Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK) appeared on national TV to resign after a military junta had arrested him, the prime minister and several other members of the administration the day before. Motivated by dissatisfaction of military salaries and political ...

Friday, 17 Nov 2017
Zimbabwe: from Coup to Democratization?

In the early hours of the morning on 15 November, the Zimbabwean military placed President Mugabe under house arrest. The coup against one of the longest serving rulers in Africa appears to have been a reaction to Mugabe’s ouster of his vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, to pave the way for his ...

Friday, 30 May 2014
Thailand’s Fragile Democracy

The traditional elite clings to an outdated world view. But a military coup offers no solution. ​Two days after the military coup in Thailand at least 13 bombs exploded, approximately simultaneously, in the city of Pattani. Three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed, and approximately 60 people injured. On ...