January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
The stakes are enormous and the challenges are difficult, but a look at Iraq months after the toppling of Saddam Hussein reveals that, despite all the frustrating setbacks, grounds for cautious optimism remain.
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
For about a century after 1850, the Middle East enjoyed an imperfect yet real "Liberal Age." The roots of some of the key institutions of that era remain today. Can they be nurtured into a second spring?
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Like liberals in the British East India Company more than a century ago, European and international officials have become stewards of a people's fate. The intentions are good, but will self-government result?
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
The claim that ethnic minorities have a moral and legal right to secede from states is a dangerous fiction with perilous implications for divided societies.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
To forestall a worst-case scenario, the U.S. and the world must make a deeper commitment to peacekeeping and decentralized government.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Politics in the Arab Middle East is often a matter of powerholders first liberalizing — and then "deliberalizing" — public life in order to first maintain their rule. But this "survival strategy" is a dead end.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Until now, globalization and democratization have been mutually reinforcing, but in the future globalization may pose serious challenges for democracy.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Although Islamist terror groups invoke a host of religious references, the real source of their ideas is not the Koran but rather Leninism, fascism, and other strains of twentieth-century thought that exalt totalitarian violence.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Must countries where authoritarian regimes have fallen therefore be “in transition” to democracy? Many democracy promoters seem to think so. Yet trends on the ground in country after country are raising doubts about whether it is true or useful to think of democracy’s prospects in this way.
July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3
The recognition of democracy as a universally relevant system is a major revolution in thinking, and one of the main contributions of the twentieth century. While not yet universally practiced, democracy is now being taken as generally right.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Review of Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (1994).
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
The United States has slid into competitive authoritarianism. The slide has been modest and remains reversible—but it is real. Even after Donald Trump, American democracy will remain fragile.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Mass movements topple dictators but struggle to secure democracy afterward. The theory of nonviolent struggle is not broken; it is out of date. Regimes have adapted their repression—movements must now adapt their strategies.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Social media inspired revolutions that autocrats quickly smothered. Digital payments are different: Rulers cannot switch them off without ruining their own economies. Quietly, they enrich citizens, broaden markets, and build the foundations for a freer society.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
AI gives autocrats unprecedented powers of surveillance, but seeing is not enforcing. Authoritarians still rely on coercion, and a regime’s henchmen can shirk, defect, or disobey. The costs for autocrats will rise in unexpected ways.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Bureaucrats who slow-walk, leak, and refuse to cooperate have long been democracy’s quiet sentinels. But autocrats armed with AI surveillance will root them out—unless democracies build new legal shields around the administrative state.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
For the first time in a century, every great power is autocratic or heading that way. In a post-unipolar world, strongmen shop for patrons and make deals while democrats increasingly are on the defensive.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Inequality fuels democratic decay almost everywhere, yet South Korea and Taiwan keep thriving. Their secret is the welfare state: Universal healthcare, pensions, and social protection have given citizens concrete reasons to trust democracy.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Americans have never been angrier with one another. But polarization is not the disease—it is the response to a revanchist movement seeking to roll back sixty years of social progress.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
A wealthy, high-quality democracy has seized up. No populist, no stolen election—just divided government colliding with a constitution built for single-party rule. With Beijing watching, the stakes for Taiwan could not be higher.
