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October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier, more educated, and more peaceful societies? On all counts, the answer is yes.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
Today, governments can see who buys what, who pays whom, and who donates to which cause. But they cannot easily trace or confiscate Bitcoin. The digital currency offers a lifeline to democratic movements operating in the most repressive places.
The economy is spiraling, public frustration is mounting, and the regime is becoming more repressive. The next time Egyptians come to the streets, they will be looking for more than promises and free elections.
Establishment parties are flagging. They should learn from political disruptors.
Less than a year after a bitter loss, the opposition dealt Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling party their largest electoral defeat in decades. The question is whether they can now build on their success.
Turkey’s president would rather turn his country into a full autocracy than give up power. But the Turkish people are clinging to what remains of their democracy, and they are ready to fight for it.
Thailand’s current crisis may finally end the cycle of populism and polarization that has crippled its democratic aspirations. But it is also revealing that there are far worse forces undermining Thai democracy.
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In July 2016 and January 2017, the Journal of Democracy published two articles on “democratic deconsolidation” by Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk. These essays not only generated a great deal of commentary in the media, but also stimulated numerous responses from scholars focusing on Foa and Mounk’s analysis of the survey data that is at the heart of their argument.…
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“The Journal of Democracy is far and away the most important forum for current debates about the nature and spread of liberal democracy around the world, and an indispensable tool for anybody interested in comparative politics or international relations. It is a model for how to present serious intellectual content in a clear and accessible…
Readers can download the following articles on iTunes free of charge: Edward Aspinall and Marcus Mietzner, “Southeast Asia’s Troubling Elections: Nondemocratic Pluralism in Indonesia” (October 2019) Rod Alence and Anne Pitcher, “Resisting State Capture in South Africa” (October 2019) Mai Hassan and Ahmed Kodouda, “Sudan’s Uprising: The Fall of a Dictator” (October 2019) Sheri Berman…
Journal of Democracy contributors talk with Managing Editor Brent Kallmer about the articles in the Journal, which is published by Johns Hopkins University Press for the National Endowment for Democracy. Adrienne LeBas Adrienne LeBas discusses her essay “A New Twilight in Zimbabwe? The Perils of Power Sharing” from the April 2014 issue of the Journal of Democracy.…
In 2021, democracy’s fortunes were tested, and a tumultuous world became even more turbulent. Democratic setbacks arose in places as far flung as Burma, El Salvador, Tunisia, and Sudan, and a 20-year experiment in Afghanistan collapsed in days. The world’s democracies were beset by rising polarization, and people watched in shock as an insurrection took…
What the opposition did and how Erdoğan managed to escape outright defeat. | Murat Somer and Jennifer McCoy
Marine Le Pen has remade her image to obscure her far-right populism. There is a real risk French voters won’t see through it. April 2022 By Agneska Bloch On April 24, French voters will go to the polls in a rematch of the 2017 presidential election: now President Emmanuel Macron versus far-right populist Marine Le…
If liberal norms and institutions are to prevail, they need to be defended from the left and the right. | By Ghia Nodia
Tunisia’s president is looking to strengthen his chokehold on the country. 10 February 2022 By Nate Grubman As much of the world trains its eyes on the looming crisis on Ukraine’s border, Tunisia’s Kais Saied is stepping up efforts to consolidate a dictatorship in what, for the last decade, had been widely hailed as…
In the days ahead, the West must remain calm—and redouble its support for Ukraine.
