Sarah Yerkes

Nov 4, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | Sarah Yerkes |Sabina Henneberg

Not long ago, Tunisia was considered one of the biggest success stories in the Middle East and North Africa. Unlike neighboring Arab countries that experienced massive popular uprisings in 2011, Tunisia did not immediately revert to authoritarianism or descend into civil war. Instead, after its longtime dictator fled, an interim government held free and fair elections. The new, democratically elected regime adopted a liberal constitution and allowed civil society and independent media to flourish.

Oct 22, 2024 | lawfaremedia.org | Sarah Yerkes |Sabina Henneberg |Jen Patja

Scott R. Anderson is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow in the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. He previously served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and as the legal advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Apr 25, 2024 | carnegieendowment.org | Sarah Yerkes

When Portugal began its democratic transition on April 25, 1974, the odds were not in favor of success. The change took place in the midst of the Cold War, in a country with a popular, Moscow-aligned Communist Party. For much of the democratic West, the country’s stability as a NATO founding member—not its level of freedom—was the priority. Portugal had little space for civil society or political opposition.

Dec 14, 2023 | carnegieendowment.org | Sarah Yerkes

Dubai is known for going big. As the host of the twenty-eighth UN climate talks, better known as COP28, Dubai did not disappoint—including a reported 84,000 attendees (more than double the 38,457 attendees at COP26 in Glasgow, the previous record-holder).

May 16, 2023 | justsecurity.org | Sabina Henneberg |Sarah Yerkes

Since July 2021, when Tunisia’s democratically-elected president unilaterally launched a series of measures to consolidate power in his own hands, U.S. and Western policymakers have grown increasingly perplexed about how to restore democracy in that country.