Free

April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2

America’s Crisis of Civic Virtue

The problem for democracy today is not capitalism; it is a decline in public honesty and civility. But there is an opportunity to revive our sense of national community, if we seize it.

January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a statement by Cuban dissidents entitled “All  United”; a letter by former dissidents of the Soviet  bloc to the so-called “Group of Four” critics of the Castro regime in Cuba; an address delivered by the Commonwealth’s outgoing secretary-general Chief Emeka Anayaoku;  the “Seoul Statement” on human rights in North Korea; Abdurrahman Wahid’s speech…

April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2

Election Watch

Reports on elections in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominica, Honduras, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2

Election Watch

Reports on elections in Armenia, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Croatia, Djibouti, Georgia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Putin’s Other Failed War

The Russian leader declared war on his country’s independent journalists. But Russian media outsmarted him by taking their operations overseas. They are now reaching more people than ever before. | Roman Badanin

Free

April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2

Is Iran on the Verge of Another Revolution?

There have been numerous waves of protest against the country’s corrupt theocracy. This time is different. It is a movement to reclaim life. Whatever happens, there is no going back.

July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3

Islamist Parties and Democracy: Why They Can’t be Democratic

Read the full essay here. This article makes a case of the basic distinction between Islam and Islamism and presents three central arguments: 1. through religious reforms and a rethinking of the Islamic doctrine, the cultural system of Islam can be put in harmony with democracy, 2. this (first) argument does not apply to Islamism…

January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1

Election Watch

Reports on elections in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Chile, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritania, Nepal, Rwanda, Swaziland, and Tajikistan. 

April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches delivered at the signing of the El Salvador peace agreement; an Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s address to the UN Security Council. 

January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1

Election Watch

Reports on elections in Argentina, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cameroon, The Gambia, Guatemala, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, Zambia.

Free

October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4

How Authoritarians Win When They Lose

Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.

Free

July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3

How Zelensky Has Changed Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky is far more than a brave wartime leader. He began changing the tenor and direction of Ukrainian politics long before the people made him their president.

Free

January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1

Burma: Suu Kyi’s Missteps

Despite high hopes for progress toward democracy, the military’s power remains stubbornly entrenched, while Aung San Suu Kyi seems to lack the skills to run the government effectively.

Free

July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3

Why India’s Democracy Is Dying

Under Narendra Modi, India is maintaining the trappings of democracy while it increasingly harasses the opposition, attacks minorities, and stifles dissent. It can still reverse course, but the damage is mounting.

Free

October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4

Why Democracies Survive

Democracies are under stress, but they are not about to buckle. The erosion of norms and other woes do not spell democratic collapse. With incredibly few exceptions, affluent democracies will endure, no matter the schemes of would-be autocrats.

July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3

The Prince

A review of MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman, by Ben Hubbard.