Young people in countries all over the world are fed up with the poverty, inequality, and corruption plaguing their societies. Driven by frustration and anger, youth-led uprisings are spreading across the globe, toppling governments and compelling reform — often in the face of violent regime crackdowns. In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Erica Chenoweth and Matthew Cebul explore the promise and perils of a rising Gen Z.
Plus: Lessons from Brazil on holding would-be autocrats accountable; how direct-democracy initiatives such as referendums are being undermined by AI; and the steps Ukraine must take to remain democratic.
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• Young people from Peru to Madagascar to Nepal — furious with political elites reaping the spoils of privilege and corruption — are rising up to demand change, write Erica Chenoweth and Matthew Cebul.
• Luciano Da Ros and Manoel Gehrke explain how Brazil did something that few democracies ever have: It convicted a former president of attempting a coup.
• David Altman lays out how political players and advocacy groups are using AI to draft ballot initiatives, gather signatures, and persuade voters — undermining democratic legitimacy in the process.
• Elected leaders are intentionally undermining their governments’ ability to govern by dismantling the states they lead, warn Andrés Mejía Acosta and Javier Pérez Sandoval.
• Ukraine must win its war against Russian aggression. But Nik Hynek and Michal Šenk argue that the decisions it makes now will determine what kind of state it will be when the war is over.
• Narendra Modi and the BJP have developed a textbook attack on India’s universities and centers of free thought that serves as a vital warning for any country where higher education is in danger, writes Nandini Sundar.
• One way or another, explains Kristof Titeca, the highly personalistic regime of Uganda’s octogenarian president, Yoweri Museveni, is passing, and there is no clear view of what will follow.
Also in this issue:
• As Tanzania’s October 2025 sham election got underway, protests broke out across the country, sparking a brutal regime crackdown — and, Dan Paget argues, a turning point for both the ruling party and the Tanzanian people.
• Moldova is poor, strategically located, and under intense pressure from Russia. Katia Glod and Maria Branea show how one of Europe’s smallest players has developed an effective recipe for holding Russian dominance at bay.
• Ecuador, already besieged by crime and violence, now has a populist president whose “strong hand” policies may do even more damage to the country’s democracy, Galo Mayorga and Kai M. Thaler predict.
• Long-time hopes for a rise of “Muslim democracy” have gone unrealized. What are the barriers to progress, ask Ramazan Kilinc, Turan Kayaoglu, and Etga Ugur?
• Can democracy endure in embattled countries shaped by historic traumas and facing dire threats from powers that deny their right to exist? Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura unpack their dilemmas.
• Whether preying on people’s anxieties or playing the part of progressive liberal, illiberal leaders see “gender” as a tool that can be adapted to whatever use best serves their interests, Elin Bjarnegård and Pär Zetterberg argue.
And a critique and response:
• Authoritarians often abuse electoral systems and institutional power to thwart majority will. But the basic principles of democracy — political participation, fundamental rights, and the rule of law — can take shape in more than one way, Michael Meyer-Resende argues.
• While attending to the risk of majoritarian abuse, we must also guard against institutions that empower — and even entrench — authoritarian minorities, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt caution.
View the full Table of Contents here.
For more, visit the JoD Online:
• How Venezuela Actually Becomes a Democracy by José Ramón Morales-Arilla
• Why Honduras Is Facing Election Chaos by Rachel A. Schwartz
• Why the War on Crime Threatens Democracy by Nicholas Barnes, Henrique Gomes, and Juan Masullo