October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Opposition parties cannot defeat backsliding incumbents alone, but big united fronts often fail, too. The important choice lies between unity coalitions and quiet ones—and knowing which to choose can make all the difference.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Independent journalism is under siege from lawsuits, shutdowns, and digital dominance. Good reporting is no longer enough: The media must win distribution, build solidarity networks, diversify funding, and connect the consequences of democratic erosion to daily life.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
When elected leaders attack the courts, judges rarely prevail on their own. Across 25 cases of backsliding, judicial independence survived only where legislators, protesters, and international institutions stood ready to defend it.
October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
Opposition movements have begun to question the power of taking to the street. But protest matters in backsliding democracies when it builds opposition strength—politicizing new voters, emboldening institutions, and fracturing the ruling coalition.
What “Leaderless” Actually Means | Kinuthia Ndung’u and Wanjira Wanjiru
Gen Z protests are about more than a generation. Uprisings like the one we helped lead in Kenya are rewriting how movements organize, and how states fight back.
Zambia’s Authoritarian Turn | Wiriranai Brilliant Masara
Hakainde Hichilema came to power five years ago promising to restore Zambia’s democracy. But his government now commits the very abuses he once railed against.
Why Germany’s Mainstream Parties Have Lost Their Way| Justin Daniels and Luca Siepmann
The country’s far right is connecting with voters where they live. Germany’s mainstream parties need to borrow from that playbook and become a presence in the communities they hope to lead.
News & Updates
October 2026
Today the chief threat to democracy comes not from generals in the streets but from elected leaders dismantling it from within.
September 2026
For the first time since the party’s founding in 2013, the “firewall” that has kept the far right out of German government is trembling. Can it hold? And what does the AfD’s breakthrough reveal about the health of democracy across Europe?
Most Read
Forget his excuses. Russia’s autocrat doesn’t worry about NATO. What terrifies him is the prospect of a flourishing Ukrainian democracy.
Old-fashioned military coups and blatant election-day fraud are becoming mercifully rarer these days, but other, subtler forms of democratic regression are a growing problem that demands more attention.
The “crisis” of democracy is a crisis of representation. New parties, some of which are populist in troublingly illiberal ways, are arising from this moment. The danger that they pose is not that they are antidemocratic, but that they are…
Generative AI can flood the media, internet, and even personal correspondence, sowing confusion for voters and government officials alike. If we fail to act, mounting mistrust will polarize our societies and tear at our institutions.
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
A Monthly Column
The Frontline
By Kinuthia Ndung’u and Wanjira Wanjiru
Read our entire October 2025 issue, featuring “What Democracy Does … and Does Not Do” by Maya Tudor.
