Author Archive:
Thomas Carothers
Learning lessons on lessons learned
Following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt experienced a surge of conferences, workshops and other events featuring comparative lessons about democratic transitions, sponsored by a wide range of foreign organizations. Many …
Approach analogies with caution
When confronted with startling political events, we naturally grasp at ways to make sense of them. Historical analogies promise to demystify a disorienting present through insights from the past. As political change roiled the Arab …
Civil society assistance revisited
Sobriety remains the primary message at the end of the second decade of Western civil society aid for post-communist societies, just as it was after the first, while the challenges and best practices I identified …
Aiding civil society in postcommunist societies: future challenges
Ten years ago, most observers thought of civil society aid to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as quick-acting doses of support to expand the envelope of freedom in the initial hump …
