April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
Syrians rejoiced when Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell. After decades of dictatorship and civil war, Syrians must now rebuild their country while seeking justice for the victims of authoritarian rule.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
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 antiliberal.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
An expansive underworld of hidden wealth lies beneath the everyday economy. This stealth network of tax havens, secret trusts, and offshore accounts is weakening democratic institutions and fueling our worst enemies.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
Ukraine versus Russia is a modern David versus Goliath conflict that matters not only for the future of Ukraine, but for that of democracy itself.
How Dictators Use Sports to Win Friends and Influence People | Sarath K. Genji
Authoritarians are developing new tools to project their malign influence across the globe. The world of sports can teach us a lot about the games they play.
Why Dictators Fear Universal Jurisdiction | Ezequiel Podjarny
It may be the best weapon we have for holding autocrats accountable for their crimes, and the world’s democracies are beginning to rally behind it.
Why Election Observers Are Human-Rights Defenders | Gerardo de Icaza
Election observers are the first line of defense for democratic rights and freedoms, and they work in some of the most challenging places. They deserve the same protections as human-rights defenders.
News & Updates
May 2025
Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s landmark 2002 essay clarified the shifting democratic landscape of the late twentieth century. Now, competitive authoritarianism more than anything else explains the state of global democracy today.
May 2025
Determined to project their influence abroad, authoritarian regimes are subverting international rules and norms while disguising their misdeeds. The easiest way to do this? Convince the world they are benign, upstanding members of the international community.
Most Read
In recent years competitive authoritarianism has emerged in some countries with relatively strong democratic traditions and institutions.
Authoritarians are developing new tools to project their malign influence across the globe. The world of sports can teach us a lot about the games they play.
Forget his excuses. Russia’s autocrat doesn’t worry about NATO. What terrifies him is the prospect of a flourishing Ukrainian democracy.
If democracies did a better job “delivering” for their citizens, so the thinking goes, people would not be so ready to embrace antidemocratic alternatives. Not so. This conventional wisdom about democratic backsliding is seldom true and often not accurate at…
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.
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By Danielle Allen and E. Glen Weyl
Advanced AI poses twin perils: the collapse of democratic control over key state functions and the concentration of political and economic power in the hands of the few.
Plus the entire January 2024 issue, available free of charge for a limited time.
