January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
Russia’s Political System: Imperialism and Decay
The system of personalized power that has long ruled Russia now faces a new crisis, and it is trying to avert decay through the reassertion of empire.
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January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
Southeast Asia: In The Shadow of China
Given Southeast Asia’s relatively high level of socioeconomic development, we might expect it to be a showcase of democracy. Yet it is not. To grasp why, one must look to deeper factors of history and geography.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
The Opening in Burma: The Need for a Political Pact
The hardest work of the transition—negotiating political pacts—has not yet begun. Burma’s democrats must help to forge a system of mutual security that can allow democratization to proceed.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Belarus: A Tale of Two Elections
Strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s suspiciously lopsided 2010 electoral victory—and subsequent crackdown on dissent—may seem like a repeat of the events of 2006, but much has changed in the interval, and his regime is much more precarious today.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
In Praise of Václav Havel
A tribute to Václav Havel, Czech playwright and former dissident, who became not only president but the symbol of the “velvet revolutions.”
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2009: The Erosion Accelerates
Although the overall state of freedom in the world has clearly improved over the last two decades, more recent trends are worrisome. In 2009, declines in freedom outnumbered gains for the fourth consecutive year.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: Georgia’s Soviet Legacy
The central problems now blocking democracy in Georgia and other parts of the former USSR are: 1) the use of power in order to gain wealth; 2) the absence of the rule of law; and 3) the passivity of citizens.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Aiding Latin America’s Poor
Latin American social policy has at times worked backwards, widening rather than narrowing economic and social inequalities. But new conditional cash-transfer programs seem to be producing positive outcomes.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
India’s 2009 Elections: A Vote to Stay the Course
Indian voters pulled off a surprise by allowing the Congress party to retain power at the head of a more coherent coalition that is far less dependent on a congeries of small regional parties.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
The Mexican Standoff: The Mobilization of Distrust
Mexico’s system of electoral governance and dispute settlement worked reasonably well, yet it created too much noise and too many needless invitations to distrust. The failures observed were less those of institutions than of actors. The loser reacted deplorably, but none of those involved acted in a manner beyond reproach.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
Religious Exclusion and the Origins of Democracy
The most challenging type of diversity for democracy is religious diversity. This also helps explain why modern democracy first took root in Western Europe: Religiously homogenous populations went hand in hand with the early formation of parliaments.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a statement issued by a leading group of Russian democrats on the conflict over South Ossetia; a joint declaration condemning Russian military actions against Georgia; the African Democracy Forum’s statement condemning the military coup d’état in Mauritania.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Afghanistan, Armenia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Gabon, Georgia, Latvia, Madagascar, Maldives, São Tomé and Príncipe, Swaziland, and Togo.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Lessons from Latin America: The Rise of Rentier Populism
Latin America’s much-discussed political “left turn” has taken two very different forms. Why has the region’s commodities boom led some left-turn states to move toward “plebiscitarian superpresidentialism,” while others have resisted this temptation?
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: The Future of Structural Reform
As Latin America suffers from its worst economic crisis in decades, the reform of political institutions remains the region’s best hope.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Montenegro: The Dilemmas of a Small Republic
October 2002 brought the latest in a series of “critical” elections that have helped to point the way to an independent, more democratic future.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
The Referendum in Venezuela: Elections versus Democracy
While charges of electronic fraud in the actual voting or vote-counting are unproven, the dubious and even illegal tactics that the Chavez regime used throughout the larger process point to rampant "institutional fraud" that is undermining Venezuelan democracy.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
The Politics of the Asian Financial Crisis
The political dimensions of the 1997-99 Asian financial crisis have been largely ignored. Yet political factors are crucial to understanding the crisis and the differing ways in which the democracies and authoritarian regimes in the region responded to it.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade’s concession speech; newly elected Senegalese president Macky Sall’s first national address; the Ottawa Declaration on Tibet issued on April 29 at the conclusion of the Sixth World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Hungary’s U-Turn: Retreating from Democracy
The great achievements of Hungary’s 1989–90 transition—including democracy, rule of law, market-oriented reform, and pluralism in intellectual life—are being dismantled as the world looks the other way.