April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Power, Performance, and Legitimacy
Around the world, democracy has lost steam. If we are to regain the momentum, we must harness these essential elements and wage the struggle with the conviction that the times demand.
675 Results
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Around the world, democracy has lost steam. If we are to regain the momentum, we must harness these essential elements and wage the struggle with the conviction that the times demand.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
Liberal democracy has drawn its share of false indictments. But like any form of government, it has genuine weaknesses that can at best be managed. How well liberals navigate these inherent tensions may help determine the future of freedom.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to seize new ground and promote China’s global influence. But their assertive, strong-arm tactics are born from fear and restless insecurity.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Beijing is using red tape, procedural rules, and a little help from its authoritarian allies to strangle NGOs seeking to participate in the world body.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Excerpts from: a statement condemning the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' campaign against the country's civil society organizations and human-rights groups; a statement by two top EU officials on the arrest of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko; an address given by Mongolian president Tsakhia Elbegdorj; the OAS resolution "Promotion of the Rights…
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Excerpts from: “Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibet Situation,” by 29 Chinese intellectuals; a speech given by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso at the formal launch of the European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership; the “State of the Nation” address delivered by the Movement for Democratic Change’s presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai; International Committee…
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Excerpts from: a declaration issued by the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba; an open letter issued by leading democrats decrying Russian president Vladimir Putin’s series of “reforms”; a statement issued by forty leading civil society groups from the Middle East and North Africa; an open letter issued in response to the initiation of criminal…
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Excerpts from a United Nations report on the feasibility of early elections and possible alternatives in Iraq; an inaugural address by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili delivered in Tbilisi on January 25; a letter signed by more than 100 reformist Iranian parliamentarians criticizing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for approving the Guardian Council disqualification of more…
October 2014, Volume 25, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilve’s speech in Oslo, Norway; Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech; Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán's shocking speech in favor of an “illiberal” state; an open letter by senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam calling for an end to communism; the inaugural address of Colombian…
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
Excerpts from: U.S. president Donald J. Trump’s inaugural address; remarks by U.S. vice-president Mike Pence and U.S. senator John McCain at the Munich Security Conference; speeches by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, and the Gambia’s new president Adama Barrow; and NED president Carl Gershman’s remarks before the Lithuanian parliament.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Courage Tribute acceptance speeches from the World Movement for Democracy’s Ninth Assembly in Dakar, Senegal; Organization of American States (OAS) statement on Cuba’s presidential succession; French president Emmanual Macron’s address before the European Parliament; report by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.K. Parliament on Russian money laundering
October 1999, Volume 10, Issue 4
Excerpts from: the “Sana’a Declaration” and remarks by Yemeni prime minister Abdul Karim Al-Eryani from the Emerging Democracies Forum; Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri’s remarks; remarks from South African president Thabo Mbeki; the “Rio de Janiero Declaration.”
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
Excerpts from: letter from the Editors of Novaya Gazeta; Speech by Ukraine’s UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya; statement by former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė; statement by the Russian Anti-War Committee; transcript of an interrogation of an antiwar protester by Russian police; speech by Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky to the U.K. Parliament
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Burma’s National Unity Government statement on execution of four prodemocracy activists by military junta; UN Human Rights Commission report on the treatment of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region; international NGO statement on closure of Uganda’s leading LGBTQ rights advocacy organization; the Prague Manifesto for a Free Ukraine; Zov, a Russian soldier’s memoir.
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.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
The National Endowment for Democracy’s founding president made enormous contributions to the fight for freedom and human rights. Reflections on what his 37-year tenure meant for the democratic cause—and this journal.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s letter from prison; Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko’s final court statement; the Bletchley Declaration on AI safety and ethics; “An Open Letter to the Presidents of Africa” by Congolese hip hop artist Martial Pa’nucci; a letter from Guatemala’s indigenous ancestral and community authorities; a Chinese blogger remembers Peng Lifa.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
Maria Sarungi Tsehai refuses to be silent; Ekrem İmamoğlu’s letter from prison; a Venezuelan opposition leader’s final message before his arrest; a 19-year-old Russian dissident’s final court statement; Dominican protesters and journalists march for freedom of the press; and the Tiananmen Mothers remember the massacre.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
A Togolese activist and writer on oppression; a Chinese human-rights lawyer’s long detention; a reflection on Serbia’s anticorruption protests; Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commemorates five years since Belarus’s uprising; a Salvadoran university rejects the constitutional amendment; and Bolivia’s election anthem.
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.