With democracy in trouble across the globe, it’s easy to forget how and why a steady succession of dictatorships fell in the last half of the twentieth century. Democracy’s strengths should give cause for hope at a moment when autocracy appears ascendent. With the transparency, accountability, and freedoms afforded by self-rule come better economies, more active citizens, and stronger institutions willing to stand up for democratic rights.
The following Journal of Democracy essays offer examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America of citizens — from young people to church leaders to high-court judges — peacefully mobilizing to save their democracies. Read free for a limited time.
Democracy’s Surprising Resilience
Despite worry of an authoritarian resurgence, the vast majority of “third wave” democracies are enduring. Democracy, buoyed by economic growth and urbanization, is outperforming most people’s expectations or fears.
Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way
Why Senegal’s Democracy Survived
After a turbulent election cycle, with an incumbent leader postponing the vote and putting his thumb on the scale, voters elected a new president and, for the third time in Senegalese history, a new ruling party. How did the country keep its democracy from crumbling?
Ibrahima Fall and Catherine Lena KellyHow Latin America’s Judges Are Defending Democracy
Can a strong, independent supreme court serve as a guarantor of democracy? In Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, judges are showing a surprising resolve in fending off their countries’ antidemocratic forces.
Diego A. Zambrano Ludmilla Martins da Silva Rolando Garcia Miron Santiago P. Rodriguez
The Return of Politics in Bangladesh
The student movement that toppled Bangladesh’s longtime autocratic ruler wants more than a return to the old order. These young revolutionaries are seizing a chance to start anew. How and by whom will the country’s future be decided?
Nusrat Sabina Chowdhury
How Serbian Students Created the Largest Protest Movement in Decades
They have been smart, creative, leaderless, and transparent. And they aren’t targeting any one politician or party. They aim to change the entire system.
Breza Race Maksimovic and Srdja Popovic
Democracy’s Devout Defenders
When Africa’s leaders act undemocratically, they face an unexpected opponent—the power of the pulpit. Within civil society, church leaders and their faithful have become leading defenders of liberal democracy.
Kate Baldwin
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Image credit: Munbir Tanaha