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In our past work, we had analyzed the correlation between gender standards and democratic standards in post-colonial North Africa, and found it to be essentially non-existent, despite the fact that these two standards are highly correlated worldwide, and despite the analytical evidence to the effect that they go hand in hand. We revisit our previous analysis, in light of recent developments in North Africa and the Middle East.

Common wisdom, and development theory hold that gender standards and democratic standards go hand in hand, in the sense that countries that uphold high standards of gender equality are the same as countries that uphold high standards of democratic governance. Even though this principle appears intuitively appealing, it is disproved by empirical measures I have collected on the recent history of the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia). In this paper, I report on my empirical experiments and submit tentative justifications for their outcome.

"The peaceful political change of 1989 and early 1990s opened a new chapter in the political history of Central and Eastern Europe. For the two following decades, the process of introducing and implementing democratic standards has been steady and firm. Stages of this process: economic liberalisation, transition to democratic institutions and their consolidation, as mentioned by J. Rupnik, must be assumed as a cumulative process, in the sense that once a given stage is achieved there is no turning back. Undoubtedly, all Central and East European countries have passed through all stages of the transition process. Disturbances appeared suddenly, after two decades of a relatively steady march towards western standards of democracy. In Poland and Slovakia, populist parties were elected. In Bulgaria, advancing populists were stopped by an unlikely coalition of the former king Simeon and ex-communists. In Hungary, violent demonstrations followed a political scandal that revealed how the government had lied to the public. In the Czech Republic, political impasse led to seven months without government. Definitely, Poland cannot be seen as an exception. It should be rather considered as the country focusing general political frustration of the last stage of democratic transition in Central and East European countries. Frustration together with populism poses an imminent threat to the fundamental rules of democracy. To avoid generalisation, it is necessary to specify which aspects of democracy and at which stages were threatened by populist movements."(.)

The article is devoted to the study of the acceptability of the introduction of digital technologies in the electoral process and their compliance with democratic standards. It is indicated, that the Recommendation CM / Rec (2017) revised the problematic aspects of the legal regulation of electoral technologies in accordance with the current stage of development of science and information technology and today remains virtually the only agreed act, containing requirements for electronic voting. The most common digital technologies in the election process are highlighted: devices for direct recording of electronic voting without a paper ballot form; means of scanning the ballot; technical mechanisms for speeding up the counting of votes; online voting system via a computer or mobile device with Internet access; a device for voter identification online or at a polling station (including by recording fingerprints or the retina). The following essential principles of this method of election are summarized: clarity of procedure, reliability, stability of electoral legislation and broad public support. The authors highlight the following advantages of the electronic election system - the presence of a coordinated, verified, labile voter register; increases administrative efficiency; reduces long-term costs of financial and labor resources; eliminates the possibility of manipulation; speeds up the counting of votes; improves political transparency; overcomes the problems of ignorance of the electorate. The article proves that elections, referendums or other forms of democracy, conducted using digital technologies, must meet the requirements and general principles of suffrage. Legitimation of digital technologies is possible only in the absence of discriminatory advantages. Therefore, the possibility of using digital technologies is possible in the case of organizing the technical perfection of the electronic voting system and counting of votes, as well as their alternatives, along with the classic form of voting

Theobservation and monitoring of elections and referenda has become a 'growth business' in Africa since external and internal pressures have forced the leaders of one-party states to test their political legitimacy. The closely monitored 1991 presidential and parliamentary elections in Zambia heralded the first peaceful transition from a single to a multi-party system of governance with a change of leadership in English-speaking Africa. It marked the beginning of an era of confidence in the possibilities of democratic change, and confirmed the positive influence that international observers can have on such processes. Their presence was henceforth considered an essential pre-condition for acceptable transitional multi-party elections. The hopes that Zambia would indeed 'set a standard for Africa', and offer encouragement to nascent democratic movements on the continent have, however, remained elusive. More recent elections have been replete with controversy, intimidations, and violence. Despite being certified to varying degrees as free and fair by observers, the losers have contested the results—in Angola with arms, in Kenya and Ghana with threatened and actual boycotts.