October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
The Opening in Burma: A Union for All of Us
Elections alone will not answer the question of how to build a lasting democracy. Minority rights also must be protected.
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Democracy in Retrograde pdf download
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Putin’s Deep Freeze
A review of Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 by Timothy J. Colton and Michael McFaul; Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State by David Satter; and Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democracy Under Stress in Thaksin’s Thailand
In 1997, Thailand adopted constitutional reforms. Now, five years after the reforms and almost two years into the premiership of Thaksin Shinawatra, we can see the gaps and ironies that the reforms left behind.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Women and Democracy: Regional Differences and Contrasting Views
An increase in women’s political mobilization has accompanied the global trend toward democratization, but women’s movements have taken diverse paths in different regions of the world.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Devaluing the Vote in Latin America
Malapportionment poses a serious, yet hitherto neglected, challenge to the quality and fairness of democracy in many Latin American countries.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Societal Accountability in Latin America
Recent studies of democracy in Latin America overlook the role of civil society as an agent of accountability.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Electoral Reform and Stability in Uruguay
In the November 1999 presidential election, Uruguayans reaffirmed their strong commitment to democracy, while adjusting to a set of constitutional reforms that profoundly altered the electoral system.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
India: Liberalism vs. Nationalism
A review of Democracy and Discontent: India’s Growing Crisis of Governability, by Atul Kohli and The Politics of India Since Independence, by Paul Brass.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
The Impact of the Economic Crisis: Why Democracies Survive
As an analysis of recent electoral results shows, the world’s emerging democracies are weathering the global economic crisis surprisingly well. Yet they remain under an even sharper threat from their own failures to deliver good governance.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Liberal Democracy in an Age of Immigration
Immigration threatens to erode liberalism, as far-right parties and migrant communities with illiberal views gain power. Mass publics have shouldered the blame. But should political elites be held responsible?
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
What’s in a Name?
A review of What Is Populism? by Jan-Werner Müller.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Prague Appeal for Democratic Renewal. Excerpts from: the inaugural address of French president Emmanuel Macron; remarks by Chilean politician and political scientist Sergio Bitar, recipient of the inaugural Guillermo O’Donnell Democracy Award and Lecture-ship.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
The 2004 Freedom House Survey: Worrisome Signs, Modest Shifts
Modest progress in the muslim-majority countries is complemented by mass mobilization for democracy and freedom in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia ranks as Not Free for the first time since the fall of communism.
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Václav Havel’s last two addresses as president of the Czech Republic; Nicaraguan president Enrique Bolaños’s speech accepting the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Service Medal; speech by Turkish Justice and Development Party chairman (now prime minister) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; inaugural address of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
Is Small Really Beautiful? The Microstate Mistake
Tiny countries have come in for praise as miniature models of democracy, but closer examination tells a mainly more somber tale.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Do New Democracies Support Democracy? The Multilateral Dimension
When it comes to backing democracy and human rights in international forums, the behavior of the world’s six most influential rising democracies ranges from sympathetic support to borderline hostility.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: A Boon or a Bane for Democracy?
Read the full essay here. What role do mainstream Islamist movements play in Arab politics? With their popular messages and broad social base, would their incorporation as normal political actors be the best hope for democratization or democracy’s bane? For too long, we have tried to answer such questions solely by speculating about the true…
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Russian Democracy in Eclipse: What the Elections Tell Us
President Vladimir Putin's lopsided election victory was assisted by an unlevel electoral playing field, but elections still matter in Russia and they will make more difficult the consolidation of authoritarianism.
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 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
What Political Scientists Owe Democracy
When Israel’s democratic safeguards came under attack, Israeli political scientists felt they had a duty to spread a shared, nonpartisan understanding of the dangers of democratic backsliding. Here is how they organized, built channels of communication, and reached the public.