What can be done with regimes that proclaim their devotion to democratic principles but violate them in practice?
About the Author
Václav Havel, a playwright and one of Europe’s most prominent moral and intellectual figures, was a leading dissident during the period of communist rule. He was elected as the first president of postcommunist Czechoslovakia, and later served as president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. From April to June of 2005, he occupied the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Many saw the election of Workers' Party leader Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva to the Brazilian presidency in October 2002 as the beginning of an era. Two years into his…
Despite the threats posed by terrorism, 2003 saw a second consecutive year of significant momentum of freedom, and showed encouraging evidence that political rights and civil liberties can endure despite…