October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing?
The Editors’ introduction to “Is Iran Democratizing?”
Articles
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? Observations on Election Day
In hotly contested parliamentary elections, candidates supportive of President Khatami’s reforms won an overwhelming victory.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? Reform at an Impasse
Once again, a reformist electoral victory has been followed by political setbacks. The key to understanding this paradoxical pattern lies in the unique theocratic constitutional structure of the Islamic Republic.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? A Comparativist’s Perspective
The uneasy accommodation of competing visions of authority that has characterized Iran’s political system since 1979 is a familiar phenomenon in the Middle East and elsewhere.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? The Role of the Intellectuals
The “Fourth Generation” of Iranian intellectuals has a vital role to play in strengthening civil society and fostering democratization.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? Voices From Within: Excerpts from the Iranian Press
Four excerpts from the Iranian press-on elections and democracy and on religious intolerance and intellectual pluralism-suggest the extent to which democratic thinking has gained a foothold in Iran.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Societal Accountability in Latin America
Recent studies of democracy in Latin America overlook the role of civil society as an agent of accountability.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Monitoring the Vote in Croatia
A nongovernmental organization, Citizens Organized to Monitor Voting (GONG), helped ensure the transparency of Croatia’s recent elections.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Nurturing Nationalism
A review of Jack Snyder's From Voting to Violence.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Markets, Law, and Democracy
The experience of “bandit capitalism” or “tyrant capitalism” in postcommunist societies shows that markets cannot work properly without a community of trust and mutual respect. Such a community can be achieved only where there is a rule of law, applied by able and independent judges.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Does the election of Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president represent a fundamental turn away from democracy or merely a temporary setback? Although Putin’s apparent indifference to democracy is worrisome, it would be premature to conclude that democracy is lost in Russia.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: The Feudal Analogy
The analogy with feudalism helps us understand the baffling changes that unexpectedly appeared during the transition away from communist rule.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: Can Electoral Autocracy Survive?
Vladimir Putin soon must make a fundamental choice: whether to hold on to monolithic power or to adopt a reformist course that could leave him at the center of a battle without any guarantee of success.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: Reintegrating “Post-Soviet Space”
The debate over Russia’s likely course of development under Putin has paid surprisingly little attention to his openly stated goal of reintegrating Russia with other former Soviet republics.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Classical Liberalism Catches On in China
A specter is haunting China-the specter of classical liberalism.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Arabs and Democracy: A Record of Failure
Democracy is spreading everywhere except in the Arab world. Arab elections are an immense masquerade. Corrupt dictatorships seek to stifle freedom of thought and to control the flow of information.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Arabs and Democracy: Illusions of Change
Many observers regarded 1999 as a year of progress for democracy in the Arab world. There is reason to doubt, however, whether any meaningful change has really occurred.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Arabs and Democracy: The Awakening of Civil Society
While despotic Arab regimes may seem stable, change is brewing beneath the surface. A new era is emerging in which the state will be forced to retreat before a vibrant civil society.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Is Pakistan the (Reverse) Wave of the Future?
Pakistan’s descent into authoritarian rule starkly depicts the “triple crisis of governance” that threatens many third-wave democracies. If these problems of governance are not addressed, a new “reverse wave” of democratization could be imminent.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Promoting Democracy: The Mandela-Mbeki Doctrine
The promotion of democracy in Africa has become the dominant theme of South Africa’s foreign policy. Yet the dilemmas this policy has confronted in practice have forced the government to alter its approach.