The loyalty of Venezuela’s soldiers is getting shaky. History shows from the Arab Spring to Latin American coups, when the military withdraws support for a leader, a fall from power is imminent.
Citizens and digital-rights advocates are pushing back against growing cyber repression in Thailand, where sharing the wrong Facebook post can land you in jail.
Lesotho voters wait patiently to cast their ballot.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Politics in Lesotho can look incredibly complicated, with a mish-mash of competing political parties and repeated military interventions. It’s a mess, but it’s not that hard to unravel.
Surinamese’s President Desi Bouterse in 1996, speaking in front of a portrait of himself from back in his military strongman days.
Reuters
Rosemarijn Hofte, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Oil-dependent and led by a charismatic dictator with a chaotic economic policy, is Suriname the next Venezuela?
In post-dictatorship Argentina, citizens, like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, have been the guardians of justice.
Argentine Ministry of Culture/flickr
Regional power Ecowas, which has just seen off yet another dictator in Yahya Jammeh, started off with a tame agenda 42 years ago. But it was soon shaped by civil wars, military coups and despots
Under military rule, social order is attained at the expense of economic growth while elected governments usually lead to political turmoil.
Edgar Su/Reuters
To end Thailand’s cycle of military and failed civilian governments, its politicians have to go beyond their structurally determined paths and challenge the status quo.
Will Maha Vajiralongkorn, right, son of late King Bhumibol (left) be able to bear his constitutional duties?
Manhhai/Reuters
Quick measures by the central bank prevented a financial crisis, but investors are worried. Longer-term economic effects will depend on how long Erdogan’s purge goes on.
Alp Ozerdem reports from Turkey on a violent, thwarted attempt to take over the country by force. It was a bizarre night of botched announcements and presidential Facetime calls.
Jorge Rafael Videla takes the presidential oath after the 1976 coup.
Unknown
Seven years of harsh military rule prompted the growth of a powerful human rights movement.
Members of the National Reform Council pose for photographs after voting to reject a draft constitution – a decision that will put elections on hold until 2017.
EPA/Narong Sangnak
The rejection of the draft constitution is not necessarily a setback for Thailand’s military junta. It may even have been a ploy to extend its rule well past the promised date for elections.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha shows little sign of listening to growing public opposition to his military junta’s authoritarian rule.
EPA
A year ago, a military coup toppled Thailand’s elected government. The junta promised elections once a new constitution is adopted, but its authoritarian rule betrays a hostility to real democracy.
Here we go again: protesters in Ouagadougou.
EPA/STR
Burkina Faso has suddenly grabbed the world’s attention with a remarkable popular uprising, in which hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé have forced the resignation of long-serving president Blaise Compaor…
Thais pray at Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital for the king who has reigned over them for 69 years.
EPA/Narong Sangnak
Late last Friday the King of Thailand was rushed from his seaside palace in Hua Hin to Siriraj hospital in Bangkok. The Palace issued an announcement that the King was suffering from a fever and a rapid…