How Dictators Use Financial Repression Against Their Opponents
Economic freedom is one of a tyrant’s first targets. My family and I have experienced this firsthand. But tools like Bitcoin offer a lifeline for activists fighting repressive states.
1927 Results
Economic freedom is one of a tyrant’s first targets. My family and I have experienced this firsthand. But tools like Bitcoin offer a lifeline for activists fighting repressive states.
Vladimir Putin wants to stir patriotic fervor for his war in Ukraine. But most Russians don’t think the war is worth the cost, and it’s putting the Kremlin in a bind.
The danger is greater than the rise of far-right parties. In fact, there is a risk that in their eagerness to contain the far right, European leaders may do greater damage to democracy itself.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the public to see his efforts to overhaul the Israeli judiciary as a “reform.” But people have seen it for what it is: a struggle over the very future of democracy itself.
Romania’s democracy just survived a near-death experience, but it may be more vulnerable going forward. How far can leaders go in defending democracy without compromising their claim to represent the people?
"The Authoritarian Resurgence: China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela" panel discussion featuring JoD authors Javier Corrales, Andrew J. Nathan, Lilia Shevtsova, and Frederic Wehrey. (4/23, 12-2 pm, at NED)
April 14, 2015
It is tempting to believe the horrors of the past will not haunt our future. Vladimir Putin is proving that we hold such beliefs at our peril.
When democracies are clearly outperforming autocracies in so many ways, why the widespread disenchantment with democratic government? Why are democracy and human-rights activists across the globe turning to Bitcoin?
Essays on Eygpt and Syria in latest issue of the Journal of Democracy, as well as Francis Fukuyama and Marc F. Plattner on governance and democracy & essays on the “Arab Spring,” Paraguay, Malaysia, & more.
October 15, 2013
Reports on elections in Comoros, El Salvador, Senegal, and Tuvalu.
On Tuesday, Georgia’s Parliament passed a controversial new law that would brand NGOs and media organizations receiving foreign funding as “foreign agents.” Countries across the globe are following the Russian model and painting liberal-democratic values as malign foreign interference. Read about the strategies autocrats are devising to repress civil society and stifle dissent.
Millions of voters are casting ballots in a string of elections across the globe this year. At the midyear point, how well is democracy holding up?
Thai politics appears to be in a loop, with the military keeping people’s democratic hopes under wraps. But there is reason to believe the streets won’t be quiet for long.
Reports on elections in Botswana, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ghana, Lithuania, Mauritius, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Palau, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.
As 2024 draws to a close, democracy faces urgent threats: increasing aggression from Russia and China, rapidly advancing AI, heightened polarization, and populist leaders in India and elsewhere bending democracy to their will. Here are the Journal of Democracy’s ten most-read essays over the past month.
The world’s biggest democracy and its brand of Hindu nationalism were top of mind for our readers in 2024. Meanwhile, this “year of elections” raised questions about liberalism, civic virtue, and democratic resilience across the world. The Journal of Democracy covered all of these ideas — plus the biggest stories of the year.
How resilient are democracies, really? While many countries have gone from democratic to authoritarian and back again, few have been able to sustain their recovery. The following essays offer strategies for defending and deepening democracy around the world.
There is nothing inherently menacing or antidemocratic about conspiracy theories. They can even be a source of amusement. The trouble comes when political elites weaponize them to invite violence.
The Hungarian leader appears to be working overtime at fraying the country’s ties with even its longstanding friends and allies — and the strain is beginning to show.
Drawing on their essays in the October 2011 and January 2012 issues of the Journal of Democracy, Andrew Reynolds and John Carey discussed the constitutional and electoral designs chosen by Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.
March 29, 2012