Articles

July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3

How to Fight Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn

As President Erdoğan’s grip on power is slipping, his regime is turning more repressive. But Turkey may still avoid becoming a full-blown autocracy. The opposition is increasingly popular, and there remains a way to tilt the playing field to their advantage.

July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3

Bolivia’s Silent Destruction

Bolivia’s Amazon forests are becoming scorched earth, with millions of acres lost each year to raging fires. Worse, this disaster is being caused by a government more interested in corrupt profits than protecting its people and wildlife.

July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3

The Philippines’ Dynastic Democracy

Midterm elections saw unprecedented voter participation, especially among the young, but the country’s politics are being held hostage by the bitter struggle between the Marcos and Duterte clans. The polarizing fight is taking a toll on the Philippines’ democracy, with no end in sight.

July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3

What Kind of State for Syria?

Syria is a rare case. A state being governed by a new elite that is committed to Islamic thought but open to a wide range of intellectual influences. While it is early, we may see the rise of a novel brand of Islamic presidentialism in the works.

Free

July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3

The Islamic Republic’s War on Iranians

Iran’s theocracy has waged a brutal campaign against its own citizens for years. Now that the Woman, Life, Freedom movement has stripped the regime of any legitimacy, the mullahs have had no response but to sharpen their instruments of repression.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

The Perils of South Korean Democracy

When South Korea’s president declared martial law last December, he shocked the country and sparked a political crisis that laid bare deep-seated divisions. Can Korean democracy overcome the nationalist polarization that has always defined it?

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

Divining Syria’s Future

Everything we know about getting and keeping democracy suggests we should be, at best, cautious about the prospects for Syria’s democratic future. But, as this collection of essays suggests, there are reasons for hope.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

India’s New Minority Politics

The ruling BJP has long sought to sideline Indian Muslims. But even the opposition is opting to exclude them politically. Muslims’ chances at greater representation remain dim.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

How Autocrats Use Proxies to Control the Media

Propaganda is autocrats’ weapon of first resort, allowing them to rely on persuasion rather than violence to achieve their ends. But citizens have grown savvy, so autocrats are taking a new tack: spreading their messages via private news outlets indirectly controlled by regime proxies.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

The Authoritarian Origins of the Third Wave

The “third wave” of democracy started in 1974 — or so the story goes. But the crests and crashes of waves of democracy and authoritarianism have been neglected. A close look can help us understand the current moment, when democracy appears to be in retreat.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

Neoliberalism and the Third Wave

Democracy across the world is being undermined by the very forces that once made it possible: the liberal economic order and political competition. The global concentration of wealth has made democratic governance less effective and stripped the people of their power.

April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2

The Third Wave’s Lessons for Democracy

When the “third wave” reached Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, it brought major advances for democracy. By the first decade of the current century, however, advances had given way to stasis and even erosion.