3226 Results
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
When Africa’s leaders act undemocratically, they face an unexpected opponent—the power of the pulpit. Within civil society, church leaders and their faithful have become leading defenders of liberal democracy.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
Plebiscites have grown less common in recent decades in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries, even as the use of referendums in democracies has expanded. Despite their many shortcomings, referendums are, on balance, a mechanism for strengthening democracy.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The hegemonic-party systems of Taiwan and Mexico began to loosen in the 1980s, eventually yielding to democracy. Malaysia’s ruling party, by contrast, has tightened the reins of power in the face of increasing opposition.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
The political struggle between President Erdoğan and opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu is a fierce battle for the country’s democracy. But it goes deeper than that. It is also a struggle between Islamist and secularist visions of Turkey.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominica, Honduras, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Bulgaria continues to enjoy free and fair elections, but over the last decade its politics has come to be dominated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who practices a brand of discretionary rule that puts his own priorities above any commitment to legal or constitutional norms.
January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
Since the mid-2000s, democratization in Africa has faltered, in large part due to its elites’ waning commitment to democracy.
The Russian autocrat wanted to go down in history on par with Russia’s greatest leaders. He is increasingly looking like one of its weakest.
October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4
Reports on elections in Belize, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Iran, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Singapore, Togo.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Read the full essay here. The Russian system of personalized power is growing ever more dependent on the same strategies that proved useless in sustaining the USSR. While the system still has the potential to limp along, its survival tactics render the it progressively more dysfunctional. Among the circumstances weighing against the system’s survival are…
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Survey data indicate that Africans support democracy and its formal institutions, but also point to the importance of the informal realm, particularly when formal institutions fail to meet popular expectations.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” of European institutions. Nor will it be saved by the democratic mobilization of civil society. Paradoxically, it is widespread disillusionment with democracy—the shared belief that national governments are powerless in the face of global markets—that may be…
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
The hardest work of the transition—negotiating political pacts—has not yet begun. Burma’s democrats must help to forge a system of mutual security that can allow democratization to proceed.
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
The country’s struggles with crime and corruption led many to tag it as a near-failed state. Yet the Rainbow Nation is in fact an unexpected success story, with a political landscape that is growing more vibrant and diverse.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Despite being in a “slump,” democracy shows vivid signs of its persisting appeal.
October 2019, Volume 30, Issue 4
The military junta that seized power in 2014 finally organized an election in 2019, but with the goal of preventing rather than facilitating a return to civilian rule.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe successfully transitioned to democracy. Do their ongoing political problems exist today because of or in spite of the European Union?
April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Bulgaria, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Niger, Uzbekistan.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
Reports on elections in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Chile, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritania, Nepal, Rwanda, Swaziland, and Tajikistan.
