July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the inaugural address of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko; “My Ideals and the Career Path I Have Chosen,” an autobiographical essay by by Ilham Tohti; a speech given by Chinese lawyer and civil-rights activist Chen Guangcheng to mark the impending twenty-fifth anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square.

April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: The Declaration of Free Citizens by Vietnamese bloggers; Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; a letter issued by the Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Colombo; the inaugural address of South Korean president Park Geun-hye; a speech given by Shin Dong-hyuk who fled North Korea.

July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a letter by Thich Quang Do, Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and a leading human-rights advocate, to U.S. president Barack Obama; a declaration by prominent Latin American political leaders and activists calling for political and social opening in Cuba; the inaugural address of Taiwan’s new president Tsai Ing-wen.

January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the concession speech of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda; the inauguration speech of Zambian president Michael Sata; the “Russia Development Index 2010–2011” report.

October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: speeches commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the “Polish August”; the Bamako Declaration of the African Statesmen Initiative; an open letter in recognition of Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday.

April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Inaugural address by Liberian president George Weah; open letter by Iranian activists and intellectuals; testimony by China analyst Clive Hamilton before the Australian Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. 

October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: testimony delivered at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; remarks by National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman; remarks delivered at a reception marking the opening of Mongolia’s new parliament.

January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1

Shell Game

Trillions of dollars are stashed in the world’s secret financial system, where they are keeping autocratic regimes afloat and fueling democracy’s decline.

January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: a November 2003 interview with Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize; a September 2003 speech by Hossein Khomeni, grandson of the founder and Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran; a September 2003 statement issued by Václav Havel, Arpád Göncz, and Lech Wałęsa, former presidents…

January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the forward of the final report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Chairperson Archbishop Desmond Tutu; a letter to the Vietnamese National Assembly deploring corruption in the Community Party by four Party veterans; an address on democratization in Burma by Kyaw Kyaw of the Thailand-based All Burma Student’s Democratic Front; former…

October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: documents issued by Guatemala’s Court of Constitutionality and leaders of civil society; “The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action”; statement of Nigeria’s Civil Liberties Organisation; address of Dr. Sein Winn, leader of the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma; speeches by the South African recipients of the 1993 Liberty Medal. 

April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from the “Roadmap for a Nation of Rights and the Rule of Law” issued by a group of 13 Egyptian NGOs together as the Forum of Independent Human Rights Organizations. Egypt On February 12, after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down following weeks of protests against his rule, the Forum of Independent Human Rights…

October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: remarks by Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and president of the European parliament Jerzy Buzek given to mark the tenth anniversary of the Community of Democracies; the inaugural address of president of the Philippines Benigno S. (Noynoy) Aquino III.

April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2

Václav Havel (1936–2011)

A tribute to Václav Havel—one of the most revered democratic leaders and thinkers of our time—who passed away on 18 December 2011. Included are a document issued by the signers of China's Charter '08 and some reflections, originally published in the Mainichi Daily News, by Aung San Suu Kyi.

April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: the inaugural address of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; a statement by Singaporean activist Chee Soon Juan, the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party; a resolution calling for the “International Condemnation of the Crimes of Communist Regimes.”