January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
The Road from Athens
A review of Democracy: The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993, edited by John Dunn.
2893 Results
Democracy in Retrograde pdf download
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.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Religion and Democracy
The secularization hypothesis has failed, and failed spectacularly. We must find a new paradigm to help us understand the complexities of the relationship between religion and democracy.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
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…
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution: The Opposition’s Road to Success
Ukraine's opposition had been trying to oust President Leonid Kuchma's semi-authoritarian regime since its alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgi Gongadze in 2000. What brought success in 2004?
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
South Asia Faces the Future: New Dimensions in Indian Democracy
India defies the widely held view that poor societies are unlikely to remain democratic. What explains the resilience of India’s democracy in the face of long odds? The answer lies in the ways the country has responded to the varied challenges of the past decade.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
High Anxiety in the Andes: Bolivia and the Viability of Democracy
One key source of the weakness of democracy in the Andean region is the isolation of the “political class” from the rest of society. There are growing signs that this problem is becoming more serious in Bolivia.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
The Americanization of the European Left
In postindustrial societies, class is less important as a source of party cleavage. With the European left embracing a market-friendly “third way,” political divisions in Europe are increasingly resembling those in the United States.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Aspirations and Realities in Africa: Democratic Delivery Falls Short
Data from the latest wave of the Afrobarometer survey show that Africans’ demand for liberal democracy remains high. The problem lies in lagging supply.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2010: Democracy Under Duress
The past decade began at a high point for freedom but ended with freedom in peril. Yet the setbacks of the last five years do not outweigh the democratic gains of the last forty.
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: The statement that Chinese rights activist Xu Zhiyong read at his January 22 trial for gathering a crowd to disrupt public order, for which he received a four-year prison sentence. The March 4 statement issued by former presidents Oscar Arias (Costa Rica), Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ricardo Lagos (Chile), and Alejandro Toledo (Peru) on the deteriorating…
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
China’s Long March to Freedom
China is gradually changing. In the coming years, the pursuit of individual dignity and human rights will increasingly come to the fore.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Mainstream Parties in Crisis: The Cost of Convergence
Political polarization is not always bad for democracy. What is more, a tendency of major parties to converge into some kind of “grand coalition of the center” poses serious risks for a democratic system.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Aspirations and Realities in Africa: Five Reflections
Three decades after sub-Saharan Africa joined the “third wave,” democracy’s ability to endure has been established in many countries, but its quality remains a grave concern.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
The Secret Supports of Mongolian Democracy
This sparsely populated, landlocked country sandwiched between much larger authoritarian neighbors has nonetheless managed to maintain a fairly robust democracy. The secret lies in its energetic civil society.
January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
Cross-Currents in Latin America
A survey of the region yields a patchwork result, with democratic governance faring well in some countries, at a standstill in others, and in the most worrisome cases actively eroding.
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Shifting Tides in South Asia: Bhutan’s Deferential Democracy
An opposition victory in this Himalayan kingdom’s second elections in 2013 showed that surprises are possible even in a democratic transition that has been guided from above by the monarchy.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Comparing the Arab Revolts: The Global Context
Although the Arab revolts have a long way to go before they can be counted as gains for democracy, they do underline what is perhaps democracy’s greatest source of strength worldwide—its superior legitimacy.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Hong Kong’s Democrats Stumble
The democratic forces had an uphill climb going into the September 2004 legislative elections, but they made unforced errors as well. What were these, and how can the democrats do better next time?
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
How People View Democracy: Halting Progress in Korea and Taiwan
Judging from their citizens’ middling levels of support for and satisfaction with democracy, both Korea and Taiwan are still far from democratic consolidation.