October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The Quality of Democracy: Freedom as the Foundation
Freedom has always been integral to democracy. How to guard liberty is a question every democratic regime must answer.
3225 Results
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Freedom has always been integral to democracy. How to guard liberty is a question every democratic regime must answer.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Yulia Navalnaya’s speech after her husband’s death; Russian human-rights activist Oleg Orlov’s closing court statement; “Dictateur” by Senegalese hip-hop artist and social-justice activist Gunman Xuman; a speech from Mexico’s “March for Democracy”; a letter to Nicaraguans from the Group of 94; “120 Days in Secret Detention” by Chinese activist Li Qiaochu.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
A Hong Kong prodemocracy activist’s statement upon her sentencing; Georgia’s president denounces the election results; Alaa Abd el-Fattah was named Writer of Courage and joint recipient of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize; an open letter for Xu Zhiyong; and a Nigerian senator condemns the arrests of youth protesters.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s letter from prison; Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko’s final court statement; the Bletchley Declaration on AI safety and ethics; “An Open Letter to the Presidents of Africa” by Congolese hip hop artist Martial Pa’nucci; a letter from Guatemala’s indigenous ancestral and community authorities; a Chinese blogger remembers Peng Lifa.
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Excerpts from: speeches and declarations issued in the course of the failed USSR coup; speeches presented at the First Ibero-American Summit; Charter 91, signed by more than 100 Iraqi expatriates.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
A decade ago, Arab peoples stood up and sought to replace their rulers with a more democratic political project. But Arab autocrats have a project of their own. Can the people gain ground in the struggle for self-government, or will their rulers bear it away?
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
The Islamic Republic is struggling, with the Revolutionary Guard Corps more and more the only thing propping it up.
Trump and Putin’s meeting in Alaska underscored how they see the world in the same way, while highlighting the deepening divisions that are weakening the Western democratic alliance.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Excerpts from: Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural address; a speech given by Leon Wieseltier honoring the slain Russian opposition politician and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov; the conclusion of the report “Putin.War”; Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova's letter from prison.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
Despite worries that terror groups can turn open societies’ very openness against them, the numbers reveal that liberal democracies enjoy significant advantages in resisting the threat of terrorism.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Benin, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Haiti, Iran, Jamaica, Niger, Samoa, Seychelles, Slovakia, Taiwan, Uganda, Vanuatu.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
Science fiction may soon become reality with the advent of AI systems that can independently pursue their own objectives. Guardrails are needed now to save us from the worst outcomes.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
In emerging democracies and postconflict countries, improved policing is almost always urgently required. Yet international-assistance efforts in this area pay almost no attention to the crucial need to ensure that the new-model police are not only effective, but democracy-friendly.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Political violence is rising in wealthy democracies. Polarized societies and bitter party politics are putting candidates and election officials in serious peril. Political leaders, more than anyone, have the power to stoke or stamp out this dangerous cycle of violence.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
No one should underrate the will and skill that the ruling Chinese Communist Party will put into keeping its grip on power.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Egypt’s general-turned-president has spent lavishly, cemented the military’s political and economic control, and, afraid of suffering Mubarak’s fate, become increasingly repressive. But with crushing inflation and everyday people suffering, is Sisi losing his grip?
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Bangladesh, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Estonia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Moldova, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo.
January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
Excerpts from: remarks given by Iranian historian Ladan Boroumand at the opening of the Eighth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy; a speech given by Venezuelan opposition leader Jesús Torrealba; remarks given by Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza as as he accepted on behalf of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov a posthumous freedom award.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
There is a growing sense today that democrats worldwide are in a race against time to prevent cyberspace from becoming an arena for surveillance, control, and manipulation.