Three Paradoxes of Democracy

Issue Date Summer 1990
Volume 1
Issue 3
Page Numbers 48-60
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Read the full essay here.

About the Author

Larry Diamond is senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, and founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy.

View all work by Larry Diamond

Further Reading

Volume 22, Issue 1

Building Democracy While Building Peace

Why are peacebuilding operations rarely able to establish postconflict democracies, and are there other strategies that would yield more successes?

Volume 29, Issue 2

The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy

Across the West, economic, demographic, and cultural shifts have spurred the rise of populists who embrace majoritarianism and popular sovereignty while showing little commitment to constitutionalism and individual liberty. 

Volume 20, Issue 3

Democratization by Elections? A Mixed Record

Evidence suggests that under some circumstances repeated elections, even if flawed, can lead to democratization.