Global Scans · Democracy · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT?: Society is expressing its discontent with current democratic processes that leave the elites struggling to convince their voters of their good intentions and competencies. Read on to see how democracy is offering both great opportunities and risks while this period of volatility shakes out.

• [New] Trump will claim fraud wherever his partisan allies lose, and that the pro-Trump ecosystem will back that claim up with manufactured content built on the lies already circulating about noncitizen voting and mail balloting. If you can keep it
• [New] The deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than efforts to contain it, raising fears about what might happen if it explodes in highly populated areas held by M23, the powerful rebel group that seized vast swaths of territory last year. FDD
• [New] The AfD could win an absolute majority in a state election in September in Saxony-Anhalt, meaning that it would form a state government for the first time. NAMPA
• [New] The CLARITY Act reached the Senate floor calendar with a July vote target according to CoinDesk, and five US regulators proposed stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act that could reshape crypto for the rest of the decade. TechBullion
• [New] Algerians will vote under an open-list proportional representation system, allowing voters to choose party lists and express preferences for individual candidates. Al Jazeera
• [New] The Australian government has announced that it will provide $5 million to support the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre
• [New] CRS will provide multi-sectoral support, including food, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, and shelter assistance in countries with significant humanitarian needs such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, and Sudan. George W. Bush Presidential Center
• [New] Electoral competition centered on apparent threats to democracy and identity reduces the political payoff of rule-based engagement, accelerating a turn toward volatile, transactional forms of geoeconomic statecraft with immediate consequences for Brazil's strategic environment. CEBRI Revista
• [New] Zimbabwe's Senate approved constitutional amendments Wednesday that would delay the 2028 presidential election to 2030, extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term by two years, and replace direct presidential elections with selection by lawmakers. Just Security
• [New] Turkey views Israel as threatening key Turkish interests through its ties with the Druze community and with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, both of which challenge the authority of the Syrian central government. ICT
• [New] The United States has morphed from a benevolent hegemon into an unpredictable ally and even an adversary of liberal democratic values and human rights. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)
• [New] The key mid-2020s shift is from election disinformation to wartime information threats: fabricated missile attacks, repurposed pre-war AI art, and downed aircraft amplify panic and misrepresent events. Valdai Club
• [New] As a candidate country, we expect Turkey to meet the highest standards of democracy, rule of law and human rights. Euronews
• [New] Right-wing extremists remain the greatest threat to German democracy and their number increased significantly to 58,700 last year. BBC News
• [New] Although Australia's preferential voting system limits the immediate threat to Labour, the rise of populism emphasises the need for mainstream leaders and institutions to defend multiculturalism, openness and democratic norms against increasingly influential nationalist rhetoric. East Asia Forum
• [New] The next presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2028, although Turkey can hold an early election if parliament approves one or Erdogan calls a new vote. Turkish Minute
• [New] About 4 million Americans will turn 18 in 2026, but if past trends continue, under a third of them will be registered to vote in the November elections. The Guardian
• [New] U.S. policymakers should build on what has worked: accountable, country-led partnerships that save lives, strengthen local systems, expand economic opportunity, and advance democratic values. George W. Bush Presidential Center
• [New] Democracies around the world could offer a modest amount of money to a common Global Democracy Fund that would be managed by a range of different democratic stakeholders to distribute for high-priority democratic crises or opportunities. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• [New] The shift in U.S. policy certainly prompted the South African government to place more stress on a narrative of defending democratic norms that were now more obviously under threat - especially as Trump adopted an increasingly hostile posture toward South Africa. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• [New] The EU is currently planning its new external funding that will begin in 2027; the current proposal is for a significant increase in external aid but for the budget dedicated specially to democracy and human rights to be discontinued. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• [New] Several European donors have stepped in to offer additional funding to some of the many local democracy organizations around the world put at risk by the sudden cuts in U.S. aid. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Last updated: 12 July 2026