
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
The Politics of Enemies
Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.
3196 Results
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
Zelensky’s speech on the first anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion; “Us–You–Them” by Ukrainian author Haska Shyyan; Belarusian human-rights defender Ales Bialiatski’s Nobel lecture; Activist Lhadon Tethong’s testimony on human-rights abuses against Tibetans in China; Activist Miriam Atahi’s remarks on women-led protests against Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
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…
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Excerpts from: a letter from jailed Egyptian politician Ayman Nour; Timorese leader José Ramos Horta’s acceptance speech; the inaugural address of Chilean president Michele Bachelet; a summit declaration entitled “Promoting Peace, Human Rights and Democracy Worldwide.
Mikhail Gorbachev risked everything. Neither Russia nor the West could live up to his vision. | By Lilia Shevtsova
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Excerpts from: Tawakkol Karman's acceptance speech for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize; a statement issued by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Conference of Bishops on the DRC's disputed 2011 presidential election; the concluding statement of the February 22 extraordinary meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group regarding the resignation of Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech in Rangoon; human rights advocate Harry Wu’s remarks before the U.S. House of Representatives on China’s labor camps; “Our Global Neighborhood,” presented at the World Economic Forum.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Excerpts from: incumbent Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s inaugural address; The Doha Declaration for Democracy and Reform issued by a conference in Doha sponsored by Qatar University’s Center for Gulf Studies; speech opening the conference by Qatar’s Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani; inaugural speech by newly elected Serbian president Boris Tadić of the Democratic Party.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
Excerpts from: speeches by ANC President Nelson Mandela and South African President F.W. De Klerk from the International Press Institute’s 43rd General Assembly; a UN General Assembly resolution criticizing the continuing denial of human rights and democracy in Burma (Myanmar).
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
The forces that brought Erdoğan to power may be his downfall in Turkey’s May 14 elections. Here are a selection of key Journal of Democracy essays from the last two decades of his rule.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Excerpts from: a Washington Post op-ed written by U Gambira, a pseudonym for the leader of the All-Burma Monks Alliance; remarks by Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, accepting the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award; the keynote address given by Indonesian president Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Association of Political…
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
By highlighting the deficiencies of authoritarian-populist president Jair Bolsonaro’s rule, the covid-19 pandemic is likely to leave Brazil’s democracy intact but even more brittle.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
A tribute in remembrance of Samuel P. Huntington (1927–2008).
Turkish democracy is at a turning point: Will democratic forces be able to triumph at the ballot box in the next general election, or will the country devolve into full-blown authoritarianism?
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Excerpts from: an open letter calling for the release of democracy activists in Hong Kong; excerpts from the inaugural address of new South Korean president Moon Jae In.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
A Hong Kong prodemocracy activist’s statement upon her sentencing; Georgia’s president denounces the election results; Alaa Abd el-Fattah was named Writer of Courage and joint recipient of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize; an open letter for Xu Zhiyong; and a Nigerian senator condemns the arrests of youth protesters.
On March 19, Turkish authorities arrested opposition leader and Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on charges of corruption. Really, it was a drive by President Erdoğan to eliminate his main political rival. The following Journal of Democracy essays chronicle Erdoğan’s increasing efforts to undermine Turkish democracy, and the opposition’s efforts to fight back.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Excerpts from: portions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's closing statement at his fraud trial on 10 November 2010; the Casablanca Call for Democracy and Human Rights; an open letter written by two dozen former officials of the People’s Republic of China Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; a UN resolution establishing the special rapporteur on freedom…
January 1992, Volume 3, Issue 1
Excerpts from: a UN Third Committee Resolution on the human rights situation in Burma; Organization of American States (OAS) Resolution 1080; an OAS resolution Haiti; the inaugural speech of Zambian president Chiluba ; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s; the “Agreement on the Creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States; “Fundamental Principles for the Establishment of Peace in…