China’s totalitarian regime is built on surveillance, censorship, and repression, with harsh penalties for anyone who dares to defy it. Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have ambitions that extend beyond China’s borders. The following Journal of Democracy essays explore how China undermines democracy both at home and abroad. Read for free now.
Artificial Intelligence has become autocrats’ newest tool for surveilling, targeting, and crushing dissent. But this supercharged technology doesn’t need to favor tyrants. Activists must learn how to harness it in the fight for freedom.
Across Europe — from Spain to Germany and Sweden to Italy — right-wing parties are gaining ground. The following Journal of Democracy essays, free for a limited time, cover the European far right’s recent successes, and what they mean for the region’s democratic future.
Although Germans flooded the polls, the country is deeply polarized and politically fragmented. Germany’s centrists need to deliver on voters’ concerns. If they don’t, the far-right AfD is waiting in the wings.
Herbert Kickl and his far-right allies have never hidden their contempt for democratic norms, and they are rising in the polls. But those who want to preserve Austria’s democracy may have one last chance.
Monday, February 24, marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed, Ukrainian arsenals are drained, and Western allies are divided. Even so, Putin’s effort to stir support for his war has fallen flat. New evidence shows that the Russian people don’t support the fight.
Don’t miss these must-read essays from the latest issue of the Journal of Democracy, free for a limited time, on Venezuela, Georgia, Bangladesh, global support for democracy, and more.
Vladimir Putin wants to stir patriotic fervor for his war in Ukraine. But most Russians don’t think the war is worth the cost, and it’s putting the Kremlin in a bind.
As artificial intelligence continues to advance at breakneck speed and world powers vie against each other in the AI arms race, democracies are searching for ways to control a technology that is transforming our lives while threatening to break our democratic guardrails.
Fed up with corrupt and increasingly autocratic rule, citizens in Georgia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia have been rising up in protest.
Serbs from all walks of life have had enough with their corrupt, inept, and increasingly authoritarian government. Will Serbia’s president be able to withstand the crisis?
Six new podcast episodes featuring JoD authors discussing their essays with political scientists, historians, and journalists. Listen, read, and learn!
Evan Mawarire never thought of himself as a revolutionary. In a gripping new memoir, he tells the story of how he went from a humble clergyman to the leader of a movement that helped the Zimbabwean people find their voice.
Mexico’s ruling party is using its majority to overhaul democratic institutions. Venezuela’s autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, has been sworn in for a third term after stealing an election he clearly lost. And the legacy of covid-19 is still shaping the region’s politics. The following JoD essays unpack the latest in Latin American democracy.
The people have taken to the streets to demonstrate against corruption and Prime Minister Robert Fico’s pro-Moscow policies. Once again, Slovaks see their future in Europe, not Russia.
The war in Ukraine, stolen elections, student revolutions, and the climate crisis: The latest issue of the Journal of Democracy offers incisive analysis and illuminating debates on some of today’s biggest challenges.
Belarusians headed to the polls this past Sunday to vote for president, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion: Long-reigning autocrat Alyaksandr Lukashenka has rigged the playing field to guarantee a seventh term.
It is almost a year since the death of Alexei Navalny. The Russian opposition leader sought to channel Russian nationalism as a challenge to Putin’s autocracy. He gave everything in the fight.
Climate change poses a grave and urgent threat to the entire planet. The consequences — natural disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires, rising food insecurity, violent conflict, increased migration — are intensifying before our eyes. How can we confront these challenges? Are “eco-authoritarian” responses the best way forward, or is more democracy the answer?
People are calling for a so-called unity government to stem the violence in Mozambique. But there is a better way to set the country on the right course.
