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Johns Hopkins Univ. Press

April 2006, Volume 17, Number 2

Identity, Immigration, and Liberal Democracy
Francis Fukuyama
Contemporary liberal democracies, especially in Western Europe, face a major challenge in integrating Muslim immigrants as citizens of pluralistic societies.

The "Mystery" of the Soviet Collapse
Leon Aron
There was nothing inevitable about the unraveling of Soviet communism. The role played by individuals such as Aleksandr Yakovlev was crucial.

New Threats to Freedom

  1. The Assault on Democracy Assistance
    Carl Gershman and Michael Allen
    Authoritarians are stepping up their offensive against democracy promotion, and democracy-assistance organizations will have to meet the challenge.

  2. Democracy's "Doubles"
    Ivan Krastev
    From Putin's Russia to Chávez's Venezuela, regimes that claim to be democracies but act like autocracies are emerging as a major long-term threat to freedom.

The Debacle in Côte d'Ivoire
Daniel Chirot
Despite hopes that 2005 would see an end to hostilities between rebels and government forces, neither disarmament nor elections took place. How did this once-prosperous country end up on the verge of anarchy and disaster?

Electoral Systems Today

  1. A Global Snapshot
    Richard W. Soudriette and Andrew Ellis
    A wide variety of electoral systems is used around the world, but in recent years the trend has been toward systems based upon greater proportionality.

  2. Iraq's Year of Voting Dangerously
    Adeed Dawisha and Larry Diamond
    Iraq's three elections in 2005 highlighted the role-but also the limits-of electoral-system design in managing potentially polarizing divisions.

  3. The Curious Case of Afghanistan
    Andrew Reynolds
    Afghanistan's electoral system is both unusual and unsuited to the country's political circumstances. How was it chosen and what are its effects on the country's politics?

  4. The Politics of Reform in Japan and Taiwan
    Jih-wen Lin
    For decades, Japan and Taiwan elected their legislatures using the single nontransferable vote. Recently, however, both countries adopted new electoral systems. What explains this trend?

What Really Happened in Kyrgyzstan?
Scott Radnitz
The March 2005 "Tulip Revolution" that toppled President Askar Akeyev is often grouped with the "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine, but in many ways the Kyrgyz case was unique.

Azerbaijan's Frustrating Elections
Leila Alieva
The 2005 elections were marked by massive fraud, but the democratic world mostly looked the other way. Azerbaijani society remains receptive to democracy, but the regime clearly has other plans-and will soon have massive oil wealth to fund them.

Exchange

  1. Getting Costa Rica Right
    Miguel Angel Rodríguez Echeverría
    The country's recent political travails are due not to collusion between the two major parties but to the increasing difficulty of reaching interparty agreements.

  2. Different Times, Different Demands
    Fabrice Lehoucq
    In recent decades, Costa Rican society has evolved and become less deferential. Political arrangements that worked well in the past no longer meet the country's needs.

Books in Review

  • The History of a Word
    Marc F. Plattner
    A review of Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy by John Dunn.


Election Watch

  • Reports on recent elections in Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Palestinian Territories, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

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