January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The Deadlock in Iran: Pressures from Below
Despite today’s gridlock, there are grounds for hope in the widespread embrace of democratic ideals by young people.
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January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
The March of Equality
For Tocqueville, democracy’s inevitability is not merely providential. Economic growth, property rights, technology, conflict, and enlightenment all push the march toward democracy. Such a powerful idea cannot be bound to a single religious community.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a speech by Secretary General of the Organization of American States César Gaviria-Trujillo, former president of Colombia; “Resolution on Democratization in the Asia-Pacific Region”; the inaugural address of Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Arab Islamist Parties: Losing on Purpose?
In most Arab countries, Islamist groups are the only ones with the popular support needed to win free and fair elections. Yet Islamist parties have shown an ambivalence about and in some cases even an aversion to seeking power via the ballot box.
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
Reforming Intelligence: South Africa After Apartheid
On the surface, intelligence-sector reform since the fall of apartheid has been a model of success, but the growing politicization of security-sector forces by the ruling ANC may pose a threat to the consolidation of South Africa's young democracy.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
India’s Unlikely Democracy: Six Decades of Independence
By most theoretical accounts, Indian democracy should not even exist. Yet, despite serious challenges, it shows signs of enduring and even deepening.
The Man Who Would Oust a Dynasty
A few years ago Anura Kumara Dissanayake led a struggling political party with bleak prospects. Now he is Sri Lanka’s newly elected president. The hardest work may still lie ahead.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Sri Lanka: The Return to Ethnocracy
The return to power, via elections, of the Rajapaksa family signals the consolidation of a Sinhalese Buddhist ethnocracy. But there are reasons to hope it will not take a turn toward full despotism.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Afghanistan & Iraq: Afghanistan—An Election Gone Awry
The 2009 vote for the presidency and local councils was marred by fraud, provoking a political crisis and casting a deep shadow over upcoming parliamentary elections. The Afghan experience calls into question whether voting should occur before other essential reforms are in place.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
The 2005 Freedom House Survey: Progress in the Middle East
The gains for freedom in the Middle East were the most significant seen since the Freedom House survey began in 1972.
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: Dispirited Politics
The strains of economic reform have not increased support for antidemocratic populism in Latin America, but they have led to acute dissatisfaction with democratic governments.
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?
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
The DRC’s Crumbling Legitimacy
On 9 December 2011, incumbent president Joseph Kabila was declared the official winner of the DRC’s deeply flawed presidential election, resulting in a legal president without legitimacy and an uncertain political future.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? From Democracy Fatigue to Populist Backlash
The populist backlash against corruption, the CEE transition-era elites, and the liberal consensus has led to a democratic crisis, but does not portend systemic change.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Majoritarianism Without Majorities
Majoritarian nationalism is a defining feature of our time. If we are to resist ethnonationalist leaders trying to recast our societies into imagined majorities, we must revise our conception of democracy and the exclusion inherent in majority rule.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
The Downfall of Malaysia’s Ruling Party
In Malaysia’s May 2018 general election, a grand bargain between ex–prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and reform leader Anwar Ibrahim produced a political earthquake that ended 61 years of rule by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
How Personalist Politics Is Changing Democracies
Once mostly found in authoritarian regimes, personalism is now putting established democracies in peril—a trend that digital technology will likely make worse.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Turkey: How the Coup Failed
When parts of the Turkish military attempted a coup in July 2016, the competitive authoritarian AKP regime was able to bring both its competitive and its authoritarian features to bear, stopping the coup and launching a crackdown.
Why Climate Action Demands Democracy
Looming “catastrophe” must not be used to justify authoritarianism. Solutions premised on unchecked power would bring their own risks of catastrophe.