July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa: A New Look at the Evidence
There is strong empirical evidence to support the correlation between effective term limits and the quality of democracy.
2112 Results
Miami Times Black Wall Street March 11 2025 article opening quote
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Latin America’s Authoritarian Drift: Technocratic Populism in Ecuador
President Rafael Correa, now entering his third term, has built a curious form of populist-authoritarian regime. He champions redistributionism and a kind of technocratic leftism while assaulting the traditional left along with such mainstays of a liberal society as the freedom of the press.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Defending Democracy Within the EU
Should Brussels intervene to protect democracy within EU member states? Does Europe have the tools it would need to do so effectively? Recent developments in Hungary and Romania show the importance of addressing these questions sooner rather than later.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Growth and Hunger in India
Despite India’s impressive achievements in democracy, economic development, and the rule of law, it remains home to a third of the world’s poor. Although it has successfully averted famine since independence, it still struggles to prevent chronic hunger.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: Why They Can’t be Democratic
Read the full essay here. This article makes a case of the basic distinction between Islam and Islamism and presents three central arguments: 1. through religious reforms and a rethinking of the Islamic doctrine, the cultural system of Islam can be put in harmony with democracy, 2. this (first) argument does not apply to Islamism…
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Latin America: Eight Lessons for Governance
Latin America’s recent experience shows that effective democratic governance is difficult to achieve and depends on many factors, some of them context-specific. Nonetheless, it is possible to draw some general lessons.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
International Linkage and Democratization
The role of international factors varied greatly across the post-Cold War transitions to democracy, but the intensity and results of external democratizing pressure depended on two variables: linkage to the West and Western leverage.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Christianity and Democracy: The Pioneering Protestants
Historical and other evidence from around the world suggests that Protestantism has helped to create a web of mediating factors—from higher literacy to lower corruption to active civic groups—that encourage self-government.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovinia: The Limits of Electoral Engineering
This troubled corner of Europe has become a test of the ability of outside experts and carefully designed institutions to overcome a legacy of intense ethnocommunal conflict. How are they faring?
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
Turkey at the Polls: A New Path Emerges
The recent parliamentary victory of the AKP represents a new political course that holds enormous potential for Turkish democracy.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Transitions from Postcommunism
What made the “color revolutions” of the early 2000s possible? There were 7 factors that allowed for these democratic breakthroughs. Today, Venezuela has 6 of them, and it may soon have the last one it needs.
Why Don’t Voters Care About Local Government?
National politics is increasingly overshadowing everything else, even as local government does more and more. Here’s how to right the balance. | By Eguiar Lizundia and Utpal Misra
Why Ukraine Is Critical to Rebuilding Our Democratic Consensus
The case for liberal democracy remains powerful. It may get its biggest boost in the near term from success on the battlefields of Ukraine. | Marc F. Plattner
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
Artificial Intelligence and Democracy
In this symposium, the Journal of Democracy brings together leading thinkers, experts, and technologists to explore the challenges that artificial intelligence poses for humanity, and how democratic institutions can be marshaled to help meet those challenges.
October 2015, Volume 26, Issue 4
Exploring “Non-Western Democracy”
Often called for but seldom defined with any precision, “non-Western democracy” could end up giving cover to authoritarianism, but also could allow potentially useful democratic innovations to be tried and tested.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Building Democracy After Conflict: Constitutional Medicine
The art or science of designing constitutions can benefit from the insights and methods that undergird the arts and sciences of medical diagnosis and therapy.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: speeches by ANC President Nelson Mandela and South African President F.W. De Klerk from the International Press Institute’s 43rd General Assembly; a UN General Assembly resolution criticizing the continuing denial of human rights and democracy in Burma (Myanmar).
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
The Fear of Shrinking Numbers
Illiberalism can drive away a country’s young people, and with them the future.
Save la République!
Why Emmanuel Macron’s reelection hangs on him winning support from the very people he has ignored most. April 2022 By Moshik Temkin This month’s French presidential election is giving off a strong sense of déjà vu. As in 2017 and 2002, a center-right presidential candidate (this time, current president Emmanuel Macron) faces off in…