January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
How Zambia’s Opposition Won
Halting a decade of democratic backsliding, Haikainde Hichilema defeated an increasingly iron-fisted incumbent president. How did he do it and can others learn from his example?
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Halting a decade of democratic backsliding, Haikainde Hichilema defeated an increasingly iron-fisted incumbent president. How did he do it and can others learn from his example?
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Despite a turbulent history and rampant corruption, Panama has emerged as one of Latin America’s richest and most stable democracies. How can this be?
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
With the new National Security Law, the Chinese Communist Party has honed its more sophisticated tool for hollowing out the city, whose rights and freedoms Beijing had once promised to respect.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
China is expanding its global media footprint, aggressively peddling its preferred narratives and stifling criticism of its policies, all the while undermining free expression, public debate, and electoral integrity in more open societies.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Information is being weaponized against democracy. Democratic societies need new ways to keep media free, accurate, and authentic.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Christian Welzel’s case for a democratic future is based on the mistaken notion that opinion surveys can see the future. It is no more true today than it ever was.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
The “democratic deconsolidation” thesis is overblown. Emancipative values continue to spread worldwide, and clearly point to brighter democratic days ahead.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Whether democracy regains its footing will depend on how democratic leaders and citizens respond to emboldened authoritarians and the fissures within their own societies.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Excerpts from: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Summit for Democracy speech; announcement by Women’s Tennis Association cancelling future tournaments in China; statement on sentencing of Tony Chung under Hong Kong’s National Security Law; Honduran president Xiomara Castro’s inauguration address; “Nigeria Unite” by DJ Switch.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
The National Endowment for Democracy’s founding president made enormous contributions to the fight for freedom and human rights. Reflections on what his 37-year tenure meant for the democratic cause—and this journal.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Thirty years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia is firmly in the grip of an autocrat. Where did Russia’s path go wrong?
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Can we recognize the symptoms of backsliding before it’s too late? Though the signals are sometimes faint, a new study of sixteen cases around the world reveals key dynamics common to all.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Unlike in the past, populism in Latin America today is driven mainly by the power of charismatic leaders—and it is eating away at the region’s already weak party system.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
A weakened mandate from voters and perennial state dysfunction are putting Mexico’s populist president in a bind. Will he further damage democracy to fulfill his promises for change?
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Indonesia’s president claims he is curbing democracy today to save it later. If he is wrong about his long-term wager, democratic institutions may not survive.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Mass uprisings toppled dictators in both Sudan and Algeria in 2019, but only Sudan was able to secure a transition to democracy due to important differences in their protest movements, militaries, and the role of the international community.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Majorities across the globe claim to support democratic rule, but their definitions of it vary widely. A look at where publics are willing to exchange their democratic principles for better results—and where they will not.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
A Europe-wide study shows that those who back the incumbent are more likely to oppose democratic norms. The effect is strongest among those who favor right-wing populists.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Just as public frustration with democracy is mounting across the West, social turmoil and new technologies are splintering the very political authority governments need to act.