3046 Results
The “year of elections” is entering its final stretch, and the contests of 2024 have run the gamut. We saw landslides, charades, and — in democratic and authoritarian settings alike — a fair number of surprises. What were the most significant elections of the year so far?
At the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, JoD authors Joshua Tucker, Yannis Theocharis, Margaret E. Roberts, and Pablo Barberá draw on their findings from our October issue to assess "how social media can both weaken—and strengthen—democracy."
December 7, 2017
Activists are fighting for democracy’s freedoms across the globe. They do so at tremendous personal risk, facing arrest, imprisonment, and the fear they will never see their loved ones again. Read the inspiring words of former political prisoners from Tunisia, Russia, Egypt, China, Malaysia, and Burma.
For almost a decade, Freedom House’s annual survey has highlighted a decline in democracy in most regions of the globe. Some analysts say this shows that the world has entered a "democratic recession." Others dispute that interpretation, emphasizing democracy’s success in maintaining the huge gains it made during the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Who is Nayib Bukele? Meet the president of El Salvador, the world’s most popular dictator.
Host Justin Kempf interviews Michael Ignatieff, author of “The Politics of Enemies,” on the contentious nature of democratic politics—and what happens when the tension grows too great.
This year of elections, just over halfway through, has been nothing short of dramatic, with shocks, upsets, protests, and political violence — most notably, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend. Democracy is being tested as increasingly polarized voters head to the polls. Will it succumb to division and distrust, or will it withstand its present trials?
In the April issue of the Journal of Democracy, leading scholars reassess the third wave, its underlying assumptions, and the lessons we should take from democracy’s advance and retreat over the last half-century.
In a follow-up to his widely discussed Washington Post essay “The Strongmen Strike Back,” Robert Kagan recommends the JoD’s January 2019 cluster “The Road to Digital Unfreedom” as a resource on “how new technologies have become tools of dictatorship.”
March 20, 2019
At a time when democracy seems to be in retreat in many parts of the world, Africa presents a more mixed picture. Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat brings into focus the complex landscape of African politics by pairing broad analytical surveys with country-specific case studies.
How can liberal democrats take advantage of nationalism’s enduring appeal? How can Western democracies reduce rising political violence? And how can they protect freedom of expression while also preventing the harms such freedom might cause? The following essays from our new issue provide key answers to these important questions.
Rachel Kleinfeld and Nicole Bibbins Sedaca detail the dangers of deep polarization and lay out steps that leaders and citizens can take to stop the violence.
The Council on Foreign Relations has included Steven Heydemann's JoD essay "Syria and the Future of Authoritarianism" on its list of "Must Reads."
October 22, 2013
Dictators seem all-powerful—until they’re not. Those brave enough to challenge autocrats have scored some impressive victories in recent months. But how did they do it? And how could other opposition movements succeed where they once failed?
