January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: State Capacity on the Rebound
The Chinese state has become more efficient, constrained, and responsive—improvements that could lay a base for a successful transition.
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July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India Defies the Odds: Enduring Another Election
Indians appear to love the practice of democracy so much that they are in danger of overdoing it. In February and March of 1998, the world's largest democracy held its twelfth general election since gaining its independence a half-century ago. The voting was largely fair and peaceful. New, right-of-center rulers led by the Bharatiya Janata…
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
Tiananmen and Beyond: China’s Great Leap Backward
This past spring the world looked on in wonder as millions filled the streets of Beijing and 80 other Chinese cities, defying the Communist regime and demanding democracy.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Oil, Politics, and Ghana’s Democracy
Ghana has won praise for its steady progress toward democratic consolidation. In late 2010 it joined the ranks of the world’s oil producers. Will the democratic institutions be able to resist the “resource curse”?
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
The Perils of Climate Alarmism
Democracies — facing gridlock and polarization — often fall short. But it should be remembered that dictatorships do even more harm.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
The Return of Politics in Bangladesh
The student movement that toppled Bangladesh’s longtime autocratic ruler wants more than a return to the old order. These young revolutionaries are seizing a chance to start anew. How and by whom will the country’s future be decided?
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
India’s New Minority Politics
The ruling BJP has long sought to sideline Indian Muslims. But even the opposition is opting to exclude them politically. Muslims’ chances at greater representation remain dim.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Islamists and Democracy: Cautions from Pakistan
It is easy for Islamists to accept the democratic principle of majority rule when it results in their being elected to power. But the experience of Pakistan warns us that efforts to “Islamize” laws and public life may be hard to reverse even if Islamists are voted out of office.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? The Strange Death of the Liberal Consensus
The paradox of East-Central Europe is that the rise of populism is an outcome not of the failures but of the successes of postcommunist liberalism. *This is a corrected text of the print and original online version of this essay, which lacked proper citation for some of its sources. This is the only version that…
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Why Are There No Arab Democracies?
Democracy has held its own or gained ground in just about every part of the world except for the Arab Middle East. Why has this crucial region remained such infertile soil for democracy?
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
The Danger of Runaway AI
Science fiction may soon become reality with the advent of AI systems that can independently pursue their own objectives. Guardrails are needed now to save us from the worst outcomes.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Why Israeli Democracy Is in Crisis
When Israel’s new government introduced proposals that threatened the judiciary’s independence, the country erupted in protest. These tensions will not soon end. Likud, once a center-right party, is now as populist as the European far right.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
The Decay of the Central American Left
Following the settlement of the revolutionary conflicts that long plagued the region, the left was able to reach power through elections. But the results have been discouraging.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Confronting Authoritarianism
In May 2018, the people of Malaysia transcended distinctions of class, religion, and ethnicity in order to vote for democracy and reform against a long-ruling party riddled with corruption.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
Latin America’s Shifting Politics: The Fading of Costa Rica’s Old Parties
Long hailed as one of the region’s most vigorous democracies, this small Central American country has seen voters swing massively toward newcomers and away from the two traditionally dominant parties.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2015: Anxious Dictators, Wavering Democrats
In 2015, the tenth consecutive year of decline in global freedom, the world was battered by overlapping crises, spurring harsh authoritarian crackdowns and revealing the leading democracies’ lack of conviction.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
Breaking the News: The Role of State-Run Media
“New media” may generate a lot of buzz, but authoritarian regimes are proving disturbingly adept both at counteracting them and at using more traditional media to help themselves hang on to power.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Armies and Revolutions
A key factor in determining the success or failure of revolutions is how the national armed forces react. What are the keys to making accurate predictions about what the soldiers will do when the fate of a regime hangs in the balance?
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
China at the Tipping Point? Top-Level Reform or Bottom-Up Revolution?
There are two sharply contrasting and controversial perspectives on China’s near- to medium-term future: top-level reform and bottom-up revolution.
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Putin versus Civil Society: Outlawing the Opposition
The Putin regime, having faced its first real challenge in the form of mass protests after the 2011 Duma elections, is responding with a series of laws intended to intimidate its civil society opposition, if not stamp it out altogether.