October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? Observations on Election Day
In hotly contested parliamentary elections, candidates supportive of President Khatami’s reforms won an overwhelming victory.
2778 Results
Democracy in Retrograde pdf download
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? A Comparativist’s Perspective
The uneasy accommodation of competing visions of authority that has characterized Iran’s political system since 1979 is a familiar phenomenon in the Middle East and elsewhere.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? The Role of the Intellectuals
The “Fourth Generation” of Iranian intellectuals has a vital role to play in strengthening civil society and fostering democratization.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Monitoring the Vote in Croatia
A nongovernmental organization, Citizens Organized to Monitor Voting (GONG), helped ensure the transparency of Croatia’s recent elections.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Democratizing Civil Society in Latin America
As the experience of Latin America makes clear, a strong civil society is not necessarily a democratic one. Democratic deficits within civil society jeopardize its ability to perform its proper social functions.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Eastern Europe: The International Context
Nowhere else has the impact of international factors on democratization been as apparent as in Central and Eastern Europe. Integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures is one particularly strong democratizing force.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Iran in Ferment: The Green Wave
Iran’s massive protest movement against June’s electoral coup is now moving into a new phase. What are its prospects?
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Europe and Azerbaijan: The End of Shame
A few years ago, Europe’s most important intergovernmental human-rights institution, the Council of Europe, crossed over to the dark side. Like Dorian Gray, the dandy in Oscar Wilde’s story of moral decay, it sold its soul. And as with Dorian Gray, who retained his good looks, the inner decay of the Council of Europe remains hidden from view.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
How Erdoğan Rules Through Crisis
Turkey’s economic and political crises have only worsened, but the autocratic president remains in power. His secret? He uses the levers of the state to shield his supporters from harm, while punishing the rest.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
The Danger of Runaway AI
Science fiction may soon become reality with the advent of AI systems that can independently pursue their own objectives. Guardrails are needed now to save us from the worst outcomes.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
The Origins of Military Supremacy in Dictatorships
Some autocracies are dominated by their militaries, while others hold the generals in check. The key is this: If an autocratic regime did not create its military, it will struggle to control it.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
The Future of Platform Power: Reining in Big Tech
Comprehensive regulation can strengthen user rights in the face of tech firms’ exploitative practices.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
Making Sense of Russia’s Illiberalism
The illiberal credo prominent in Russia’s foreign policy is more than just a clever political ploy. Rather, this outlook reflects the traumatic experience of the 1990s, and it is stoked by young political thinkers, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Kremlin itself.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: Forging a New “Eastern Bloc”
Through its “16+1” initiative, China is building relationships with postcommunist Europe that could threaten to undermine the European Union.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
The Rise of Kleptocracy: Malaysia’s Missing Billions
One of the world’s worst public-corruption scandals shows how a lax international financial system enables massive graft in developing countries.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
The Kremlin Emboldened: Putinism After Crimea
Read the full essay here. “The pursuit of national glory,” which M. Steven Fish counts among the features of Vladimir Putin’s “populism,” is emerging as central to the regime’s legitimation. Unlike previous instances of patriotic mobilization (around the Second Chechen War and the 2008 Georgia war), the current one appears to have evolved into a…
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa: The Power of Protest
As more and more African presidents attempt to remove or circumvent constitutional term limits, African populations increasingly are mobilizing en masse, at great risk, to defend their constitutions.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
Latin America’s New Turbulence: Mexico’s Stalled Reforms
The long-ruling PRI staged a comeback in 2012 behind a young president touting a reformist agenda, but Enrique Peña Nieto’s early successes have been eclipsed by government underperformance and a continued failure to restore public security.
January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
Ethiopia: Silencing Dissent
Ethiopia’s ruling party has long been tightening its grip, using antiterrorism laws and harsh restrictions on media and civil society to silence voices critical of the regime.