The final days of 2021 in the Horn of Africa are demonstrating just how contagious authoritarianism and contempt for popular will can be—and how dangerous.

This blog post updated an earlier post, and was again coauthored with my research associate, Amelia M. Wolf. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that its hospital in Kun…

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan made the most of her recent trip to the United States, signaling a desire for an improved relationship and deeper bilateral economic ties. Given U.S. interests in a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic East Africa, and the worrying trends in the region, her charm offensive should be met with enthusiasm in Washington. The U.S.-Tanzania relationship had been strained for years, first by frustrations with corruption that siphoned off a significant portion of the sizeable foreign assistance investment Washington had made in the country, and then by concern over the autocratic governance style of Hassan’s predecessor, John Magufuli. But since assuming office after the death of Magufuli in March 2021, Hassan has moved cautiously and deliberately to shore up her own position and to change the country’s direction.

Last week, good news emerged from Ethiopia. The federal government announced a truce in its sixteen-month conflict with Tigrayan forces, expressing hope that its action would improve the humanitarian situation in the region and pave the way for lasting peace. Tigrayan forces responded in kind, pledging to make the truce a success.

In the past decade, Southeast Asian democracy has suffered enormous setbacks, with the exception of tiny Timor-Leste. Countries from the Philippines to Indonesia to Cambodia to Myanmar to Thailand to…