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.
650 Results
January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
Trillions of dollars are stashed in the world’s secret financial system, where they are keeping autocratic regimes afloat and fueling democracy’s decline.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Opposition movements often boycott rigged polls rather than risk legitimizing an autocrat. It is usually a mistake. Here is the playbook for how one opposition seized the advantage.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
What factors help a democracy to survive a crisis? A study of cases in which democracy suffered a steep decline, yet ultimately recovered and endured, offers new insights. In moments of crisis, unelected and nonmajoritarian actors can play a pivotal role.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
A review of The People vs. Tech: How the Internet Is Killing Democracy (and How We Save It) by Jamie Bartlett.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
A review of Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World, by Bethany Allen.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
A review of Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea by Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Popular dissatisfaction and tensions within the long-ruling EPRDF have led to the rise of a young reformist leader who has begun a course of bold reversals in favor of greater freedom and openness.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
In both Eastern and Western Europe, social-democratic parties have shifted to the center on economic policy, not only sapping the electoral strength of these parties, but also opening up political space for the populist right.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
A review of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War by Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Shortcomings in governance and electoral administration may be accelerating India’s slide to autocracy. Were these flaws embedded in Indian democracy from the start?
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
A review of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise by Ornit Shani.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
Through greater savvy engagement with international law, authoritarians are seeking not only to shield themselves from criticism, but to reshape global norms in their favor.
July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3
The recognition of democracy as a universally relevant system is a major revolution in thinking, and one of the main contributions of the twentieth century. While not yet universally practiced, democracy is now being taken as generally right.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Many pundits cry for a negotiated settlement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they misunderstand Vladimir Putin’s motives. The only just end to the war will be in the trenches, not at the bargaining table.
The economy is spiraling, public frustration is mounting, and the regime is becoming more repressive. The next time Egyptians come to the streets, they will be looking for more than promises and free elections.
Turkey’s president would rather turn his country into a full autocracy than give up power. But the Turkish people are clinging to what remains of their democracy, and they are ready to fight for it.
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
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 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
Excerpts from: an open letter by the Hong Kong Federation of Students to Chinese premier Li Keqiang; the campaign manifesto of former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, who was proclaimed Afghanistan’s president; the third annual Carlos Cardoso Memorial Lecture; an open letter calling for the release of human-rights activist Liu Xiaobo.