October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Iran’s Peculiar Election: The Role of Ideology
The election results reflect less what voters want than the ideological dynamics that shape the behavior of factions within the regime.
2982 Results
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The election results reflect less what voters want than the ideological dynamics that shape the behavior of factions within the regime.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
Over the last decade or so, Bolivia has made great progress at wider political and social inclusion, but at some cost to civil liberties and horizontal accountability.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The March 2005 “Tulip Revolution” that toppled President Askar Akeyev is often grouped with the “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, but in many ways the Kyrgyz case was unique.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Although friendly to business, Singapore’s government represses dissent and is far from transparent in its management of public funds. A leading dissident chronicles his struggle for greater openness.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth sustains the antidemocratic policies that a nervous royal regime uses to defend against the threats and problems that confront it.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Often thought of as a “nascent” democracy, Colombia actually has longstanding democratic institutions. In 2010, they were effective in determining who would succeed a highly popular, two-term president.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
For the first time since the fall of Pinochet, the Chilean right has come to power via free elections. The long-ruling center-left coalition leaves behind many achievements, but also disturbing signs of a weakened party system.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
LGBT+ rights are under threat across the globe. Populist leaders stirring fear and animosity for political gain understand how democratic institutions can be harnessed and manipulated to curtail these rights, not enshrine them.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
Indonesia is widely lauded as a democratic success story for rolling back the military, keeping radical Islam in check, and institutionalizing democratic freedoms. But this success has had costs in terms of democratic quality.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Over the ten years since its first nonracial elections in 1994, South Africa has seen its democratic order become more firmly institutionalized, even as the electoral dominance of the ANC has continued to grow.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
The 2024 election led to a dramatic changing of the guard, ushering in new political leaders and ousting dynastic elites. Can a new president correct the corruption and misgovernance of the past?
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
Advances in AI are rapidly disrupting the foundations of democracy and the international order. We must reinvent our democratic infrastructure to ensure our ability to govern in a dramatically different technological world.
A string of Kremlin-backed military coups have brought a collection of juntas to power. The West should resist calls to placate them, and instead stick to its values and push for a return to civilian rule.
What are the true lessons from Tiananmen Square? Why does nonviolent resistance offer the best chance of challenging the CCP? Hu Ping, a leading Chinese dissident, reflects on the mistakes that were made and what it will take to succeed next time.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Events last November confouned expectations set by the failure of democratization in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, and should prompt new reflections on how fragile openings to democacy may be sustained and widened.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Alongside democratic backsliding is another, more pernicious phenomenon: dictatorial drift, where “soft” authoritarian regimes are opting to become highly repressive dictatorships. The West must develop new strategies to defend democracy across the globe.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Europe has seen a proliferation of laws governing historical memory, but they sometimes threaten to inflame social tensions and undermine liberal values.
July 1995, Volume 6, Issue 3
A review of Strong Parties and Lame Ducks: Presidential Partyarchy and Factionalism in Venezuela, by Michael Coppedge and Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela, by Richard S. Hillman.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
For the Shi'ite majority and its senior religious leader, the January elections played out against the background of a longing for justice that has deep spiritual sources as well as more recent sociopolitical roots.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Talk about the Middle East and those who study it has become understandably heated. But we can learn more through a calm assessment of the achievements and weaknesses of this field.