Democracy

• Myanmar's military junta arrested 156 pro-democracy activists over the past week during coordinated raids across Yangon, Mandalay, and other major cities, escalating a campaign that has imprisoned over 3,000 political prisoners since the 2021 coup. • The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a statement expressing "serious concern" about the arrests and called for dialogue; however, the statement stopped short of threatening sanctions or diplomatic consequences. • Activist networks report torture allegations in detention facilities and restricted access to legal representation, prompting calls from international human rights organizations for an independent UN investigation.

Disgraced financier’s links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examined The Epstein files have shaken Norway’s faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament’s oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up. Continue reading...

• Myanmar's military government arrested 47 pro-democracy activists and journalists on April 12 in what human rights organizations describe as the largest crackdown since the 2021 coup, with detainees held without access to legal representation. • The arrests targeted members of underground resistance networks and independent media outlets, with the junta accusing them of terrorism and sedition charges that carry potential death penalties. • The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned the escalation, calling for international sanctions on military leaders, while ASEAN member states expressed concern over regional stability impacts.

Ibrahim Traoré, who took power in 2022 coup, tells state broadcaster ‘we must tell the truth, democracy isn’t for us’People in Burkina Faso should forget about democracy as it is “not for us”, the military president, Ibrahim Traoré, told the country’s state broadcaster.Traoré took power in a coup in September 2022, toppling another junta that had taken power just nine months earlier. He has since stifled opposition and banned political parties outright in January. Continue reading...

Bright Line Watch researchers see stabilization in democratic health but at lower levels after sharp declineThe health of American democracy, as measured by those who study it most closely, has settled into a diminished state – stabilizing after a sharp decline last year, but still well below the levels recorded at any point before the start of Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.The findings, by the nonpartisan democracy-tracking project Bright Line Watch, which surveys hundreds of US scholars at American colleges and universities, suggest that the erosion of norms detected after Trump’s return to the White House last year has hardened into a new baseline. The public also holds a dim view of American democracy, the most recent survey found, but are sharply divided along partisan lines over how well the system is functioning. Continue reading...

• The Varieties of Democracy Institute at Sweden's Gothenburg University found that Trump's second term is characterized by swift concentration of executive power, suppression of dissent, and targeting of civil rights at a rate comparable to some coups d'état. • The Trump administration is flouting Congress and the judiciary, attacking courts while the Department of Homeland Security openly violates dozens of judicial orders, and has unilaterally reallocated federal funding including a $10 billion gift to the "Board of Peace" without congressional approval. • Republican-controlled Congress has "abdicated its constitutional role" by ceding legislative, fiscal, and oversight powers to the executive branch during 2025, while the administration undoes civil rights achievements and suppresses left-wing dissent.