Transitions: Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, December 3, 2012

Cristina
Odone profiles Carne Ross, the
crusader who's trying to save diplomacy from itself. And Willam Lloyd-George
offers a portrait of Shwe Mann,
the Burmese politician who's now being wooed by the White House despite his
checkered past.

James
Kirchick accuses Georgia's
recently elected prime minister of threatening to derail the country's
fledgling democracy.

Christian
Caryl addresses the question of
what makes a hero, and argues that Thein Sein, Burma's ex-general president,
has what it takes.

Peter
Murrell and Chuluunbat Narantuya explain how Mongolia's
nomadic culture is helping the country evade the resource curse.

Ellen
Bork warns the United
States government against rushing prematurely into close cooperation with the
Burmese military.

Alex
Thurston analyzes the latest
violent twist in the saga of Mauritania's troubled transition to democracy.

Endy
Bayuni casts a skeptical eye
on the human rights declaration recently passed by the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations.

Jackee
Batanda explains Uganda's
involvement in the rising rebel movement in Congo -- and what Kampala can do to
help end the crisis.

Juan
Nagel takes a look at the latest
mysterious disappearance of Venezuela's ailing president.

And here are this week's recommended
reads:

The
Atlantic Council's Egypt Source offers an excellent background on Egypt's
constitutional crisis. Particularly useful are Nancy Messieh's close reading of the draft
Egyptian constitution and Yussuf Auf's in-depth examination of the role of
the Egyptian judiciary. Mohsin Khan provides much-needed coverage of a vital
issue that has gone lost amid the political turmoil: The government's new
economic plan.

Writing
for NowLebanon, Hussein Ibish gives
a scathing take on Egyptian President Morsi's efforts to accumulate power.

Thomas
Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment makes a plea for reform of
the U.S. democracy promotion establishment.

In
a remarkable report for National
Geographic, Jeff Bartholet tells the personal story
behind a Tibetan's decision to set himself on fire as a protest against Chinese
rule.

Tunisia Live offers
excellent reporting on the
continuing clashes between protestors and security forces at Siliana.

The
International Crisis Group presents a must-read report on why Sudan
desperately needs reforms if it is to avoid a new round of warfare with its own
citizens and its neighbors.

Writing for CogitASIA (at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies), Phuong Nguyen explains why Burma's important new laws on public assembly
remain a work in progress.

Harvard's
Calestous Juma shows
how tribalism hampers the building of democratic institutions in Africa.

The
International Republican Institute offers
a useful backgrounder on recent elections in Somaliland. (You can find analyses
of the results here
and here.)

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2012/12/04/transitions-democracy-lab-weekly-brief-december-3-2012/