In 2022, we began publishing shorter, exclusively online pieces. No topic mattered more to you than Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine. We also published essays from the sharpest minds on protests in China and Iran, instability in Pakistan, and more.
The Journal of Democracy has analyzed democracy’s fortunes across the globe, from Ukraine to Afghanistan and the Philippines, from Hungary to Tunisia. Here are our top-ten most-read essays from 2022.
The ten most-read online exclusives this year focused on the Russia-Ukraine war as well as events in China, Iran, Western Europe, and Latin America.
Our most-read essays of 2023 covered the state of India’s democracy, Russia’s war on Ukraine, the protests in Iran, and more.
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.
Elections in nearly eighty countries around the world captured headlines throughout 2024. Meanwhile, NATO turned 75, Viktor Orbán ramped up his repression, and Bitcoin became the currency of choice for democracy activists under threat. These ten essays were the JoD’s most-read online exclusives of 2024.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
Through its “16+1” initiative, China is building relationships with postcommunist Europe that could threaten to undermine the European Union.
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
After enduring years of paternalism punctuated by trauma, Turkish voters have pointed their country in a new direction.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
When South Korea’s president declared martial law last December, he shocked the country and sparked a political crisis that laid bare deep-seated divisions. Can Korean democracy overcome the nationalist polarization that has always defined it?
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Aung San Suu Kyi’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech; former Yukos oil company head Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s statement criticizing the Moscow trial of three members of the band Pussy Riot; Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi’s speech; the statement of 17 Egyptian NGOs urging a greater focus on the rule of law and human rights.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
A review of Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East by Shadi Hamid.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Georgian Luka Gviniashvili on protesting the foreign-agent bill; a speech by Evgenia Kara-Murza to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; an Iranian rapper denounces Toomaj Salehi’s death sentence; Carl Gershman on Mário Soares and the fiftieth anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution; a Ugandan political prisoner’s court-martial hearing; María Corina Machado wins the Global…
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Burma’s National Unity Government statement on execution of four prodemocracy activists by military junta; UN Human Rights Commission report on the treatment of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region; international NGO statement on closure of Uganda’s leading LGBTQ rights advocacy organization; the Prague Manifesto for a Free Ukraine; Zov, a Russian soldier’s memoir.
October 1999, Volume 10, Issue 4
Post-apartheid South Africa’s democratic quest resembles a good thriller–just as the plot seems clear, a twist appears in the tale.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
Excerpts from: the speech of Maryam al-Khawaja accepting, on behalf of human-rights activists in Bahrain, the Democracy Courage Tribute; 14-year old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai’s speech accepting the Civic Courage Award; Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s concession speech and opposition leader Bidzina’s statement clarifying his postelection call for Saakashvili to resign; the inaugural address of Mexican…
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Excerpts from: Sierra Leonean president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s inaugural address; the Democracy Coalition Project’s “Call to Action to Build Open Democratic Societies”; the Varela Project, a petition circulated by Cuban dissidents; East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao’s inaugural address.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Excerpts from: British prime minister Tony Blair’s speech on the events of September 11 and their aftermath; the “Inter-American Democratic Charter” adopted by the Organization of American States; UN secretary-general Kofi Annan’s speech accepting the National Democratic Institute’s Averell Harriman Award; Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s “Speech for the Nation.”
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Excerpts from: writings by Human rights activist Elena Bonner on the situation in Chechnya; the first state address of Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri; the African Union’s New Africa Initiative; Organization of American States General Assembly Resolution 1753.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Excerpts from: a videotaped message by leader of the National League for Democracy of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi; remarks and a draft resolution on Cuba from the 56th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights; Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian’s inaugural address; Russian president Vladimir Putin’s inaugural address; a statement from Elena Bonner; the…
July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3
Excerpts from: a United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution on the “Promotion of the Right to Democracy”; remarks by Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of Burma’s National League for Democracy; the “Casablanca Declaration of the Arab Human Rights Movement”; Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo’s inaugural speech.
