
Why Ukraine’s Elections Can Wait
Ukrainians’ first priority is defending their country from Russia’s invasion. They would rather hold fair, free, and inclusive elections than vote for the sake of voting.
Ukrainians’ first priority is defending their country from Russia’s invasion. They would rather hold fair, free, and inclusive elections than vote for the sake of voting.
She was just elected Mexico’s first woman president in a landslide. The future of Mexico’s democracy rests on whether she can break from her predecessor’s ways and carve her own democratic path.
A week from today, voters across all 27 European Union countries will head to the polls to elect the next European Parliament. The following Journal of Democracy essays chronicle the far right’s rise across Europe and consider the dangers it presents in the region and beyond.
Leading experts explain the significance of Prigozhin’s rebellion and what it means for Putin, his regime, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
On 4 June 1989, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of peaceful pro-democracy protesters were killed when the Chinese military opened fire on them in Tiananmen Square. The following are some of our most powerful essays on the meaning of the massacre.
Reports on elections in Chad, the Dominican Republic, Iceland, India, Iran, Lithuania, Mexico, North Macedonia, Panama, South Africa, and Togo.
Millions of voters are casting ballots in a string of elections across the globe. At the midyear point, how well is democracy holding up?
The far-right AfD surged ahead in the European Union elections. It is now one of Germany’s dominant parties, and not just part of the fringe.
APSA Educate, an online library for political science teaching and learning materials, now features a set of Journal of Democracy subject guides. Topics range from AI’s risks for democracy to the crisis of liberalism to the state of democracy in India and Latin America. Visit APSA Educate to learn more.
The African National Congress can no longer call all the shots, and opposition parties will have more sway. Will this lead to a more inclusive democracy or gridlock and division?
Beijing assaults Taiwan with a nonstop barrage of conspiracy theories and lies to undermine people’s faith in democracy — and China’s efforts are getting more sophisticated. Taiwan must do even more to fight back.
Samuel Huntington’s classic theory offered a new way of understanding democracy’s global trajectory. But amid rising populism and increasingly aggressive authoritarian leaders, has Huntington’s thesis outlived its usefulness?
The South American country was once the most coup-prone in the world. Many thought it had closed that chapter. So why did it just suffer another attempted coup?
Want to distract the public? Little works better than family feuds ripped from soap opera plotlines. That’s how the Marcos and Duterte clans keep people glued to the drama while crowding out democratic reform.
Reports on elections in Belgium, Bulgaria, the European Union, France, Iran, Mauritania, Mongolia, San Marino, and the United Kingdom.
The popular social media app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and used by 170 million Americans, is raising national security questions about data privacy and malign foreign influence.
Democratic institutions, norms, and practices have been under threat in India. Should the country’s democracy fail, it will affect not only the lives of 1.4 billion Indians, but also democracy movements around the world.
There is nothing inherently menacing or antidemocratic about conspiracy theories. They can even be a source of amusement. The trouble comes when political elites weaponize them to invite violence.
The French president risked it all to hand the far right a stinging loss. But the celebration can’t last long. If the country is to avoid greater political chaos, voters must be encouraged to think about broader coalitions that go beyond a narrow left-right divide.
Masoud Pezeshkian won’t be a “reformer” in any genuine sense. Like all Iranian presidents, he has pledged his loyalty to Iran’s supreme leader. What he really offers is a softer version of Iran’s grim repression.