As 2024 draws to a close, democracy faces urgent threats: increasing aggression from Russia and China, rapidly advancing AI, heightened polarization, and populist leaders in India and elsewhere bending democracy to their will. Here are the Journal of Democracy’s ten most-read essays over the past month.
The brutal regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad fell in a week. Syrians have been preparing for this moment for years.
Reports on elections in Botswana, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Mauritius, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Palau, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.
The West African democracy is one of the continent’s most enduring, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s a bulwark for democracy beyond its borders.
The Romanian government is trying to guard against Russian election interference. But such a drastic, unexpected, and last-minute move risks undermining people’s faith in democracy.
The quick reversal of President Yoon’s martial-law order is being celebrated as a democratic victory. But the problems run deeper than one man. What comes next?
Journal of Democracy essays go beyond the page. Here are five recent podcasts featuring JoD authors discussing their essays with historians, journalists, students, and democracy scholars. Listen, read, and learn!
Georgians have returned to the streets to fight for their country’s future. They refuse to let it slip quietly into the autocracy the ruling party seeks.
Burma’s democratic resistance has made impressive gains against the country’s corrupt junta. But they need help from the world’s democracies if they are to succeed and create an enduring peace.
Minxin Pei, a leading expert on Chinese authoritarianism, has been writing for the Journal of Democracy since 1992. Over three decades, the Claremont McKenna political scientist has chronicled China’s transformation into a global superpower and descent into neo-Stalinism. The following ten essays comprise some of Pei’s best.
In February, the West African country appeared to be on the cusp of chaos as its president tried to seize power for himself. How Senegal became one of 2024’s biggest democratic success stories.
On November 19, a Hong Kong court sentenced 45 prominent prodemocracy activists to years in prison in the biggest crackdown yet under the city’s draconian, Beijing-imposed National Security Law. The Journal of Democracy essays below, free for a limited time, detail Hong Kong’s decades-long fight for freedom, and the CCP’s unrelenting repression.
A Hong Kong court just handed out heavy sentences to 45 democracy activists. The pro-Beijing government is taking a hard line against anyone who would challenge it.
Bitcoin is an indispensable tool for political dissidents in the most repressive environments, argue Alex Gladstein and Félix Maradiaga in two recent Journal of Democracy online exclusives. When dictators weaponize the financial system and obstruct all avenues of dissent, digital currency helps activists keep their operations running.
Economic freedom is one of a tyrant’s first targets. My family and I have experienced this firsthand. But tools like Bitcoin offer a lifeline for activists fighting repressive states.
Coartar la libertad económica es uno de los primeros objetivos de un tirano. Mi familia y yo hemos experimentado esto de primera mano. Sin embargo, herramientas como Bitcoin ofrecen una esperanza a los activistas que luchan contra los estados represivos.
Thai politics appears to be in a loop, with the military keeping people’s democratic hopes under wraps. But there is reason to believe the streets won’t be quiet for long.
The biggest election in this “year of elections” is finally over. In contests across the world, voters have spoken. But what do their choices tell us about the state of democracy globally?
The country’s mass protests were its last democratic guardrail. But Israel’s wartime goals have become a higher priority than keeping Netanyahu in check.
Donald Trump won a second — and, this time, overwhelming — victory on November 5. As the United States and the world take stock, the Journal of Democracy is looking back at 2016 and Trump’s unlikely rise to power.
