2024 Results
Miami Times Black Wall Street March 11 2025 article
James Loxton on Panama’s unlikely success
In an essay for Foreign Policy based on his article for the January issue of the Journal, James Loxton shows how one of Latin America’s most unequal and corrupt states is also one of its freest and wealthiest.
January 28, 2022
What the Freedom Agenda Can Still Teach Us
Many derided it as naïve idealism, but the vision undergirding the Freedom Agenda offers lessons for the biggest global tests of our time.
The Top 10 Journal of Democracy Essays of 2023
Our most-read essays of 2023 covered the state of India’s democracy, Russia’s war on Ukraine, the protests in Iran, and more.
Women Are Leading Venezuela’s Fight for Democracy
When María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, she made sure to emphasize that her accomplishments were not hers alone — they were shared with countless other activists agitating for democracy in Venezuela.
The Viktor Orbán Show
Hungary’s prime minister has been jet-setting across the globe to hobnob with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Donald Trump, while doing his best to provoke European leaders at home. But Orbán’s grandstanding, argues Hungarian writer Sándor Ésik in a new Journal of Democracy online exclusive, is really just an attempt to mask his growing political weaknesses.
Why China Is a Threat to Global Democracy
China’s totalitarian regime is built on surveillance, censorship, and repression, with harsh penalties for anyone who dares to defy it. Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have ambitions that extend beyond China’s borders. The following Journal of Democracy essays explore how China undermines democracy both at home and abroad. Read for free now.
Why DeepSeek Is So Dangerous
DeepSeek’s new frontier AI model is the CCP’s most powerful tool yet for surveillance and control. The following Journal of Democracy essays show how authoritarian governments leverage emerging tech to enhance repression. Read free for a limited time.
Why Democracies Bounce Back
With democracy in trouble across the globe, it’s easy to forget how and why a steady succession of dictatorships fell in the last half of the twentieth century. Democracy’s strengths, and its record, should give cause for hope at a moment when autocracy appears ascendent.
Why Philippine Politics Resembles a Modern-Day Telenovela
Want to distract the public? Little works better than family feuds ripped from soap opera plotlines. That’s how the Marcos and Duterte clans keep people glued to the drama while crowding out democratic reform.
Monkey Cage Features JoD article on Social Media and Democracy
At the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, JoD authors Joshua Tucker, Yannis Theocharis, Margaret E. Roberts, and Pablo Barberá draw on their findings from our October issue to assess "how social media can both weaken—and strengthen—democracy."
December 7, 2017
Victoria Tin-bor Hui on Hong Kong in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage
In her recent piece for the Monkey Cage blog, Victoria Tin-bor Hui discusses what the sentencing of Umbrella Movement leaders means for those struggling for democracy in Hong Kong. Read her article on the Umbrella Movement protests from the April 2015 JoD, free of charge through May 24.
Rod Alence and Anne Pitcher on South Africa’s elections
At the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, read Alence and Pitcher’s take on South Africa’s 8 May 2019 national elections, and stay tuned for an expanded analysis in the October 2019 JoD. Plus, read Alence’s 2004 Journal article (free through May 31) for a deeper look into the history of South Africa’s democracy.
How Women Make the World Safe for Democracy
On International Women’s Day 2024, the Journal of Democracy celebrates the achievements of all women and highlights the transformative power of women’s political participation and activism.
Another Sham Election in Belarus
Belarusians headed to the polls this past Sunday to vote for president, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion: Long-reigning autocrat Alyaksandr Lukashenka has rigged the playing field to guarantee a seventh term.
How Qatar Became a World Leader in Sportswashing
The government has spent billions preparing to host the 2022 World Cup. Never mind the abusive labor practices and human rights violations. It’s betting that your love of the “beautiful game” will make you more fond of this tiny Gulf state, too.
What Does a Humiliated Putin Mean for Russia?
While widespread violence or civil war was averted, the consequences for Russia—and Putin—could be grave.
The People’s Republic at 75
Founded on 1 October 1949, the People’s Republic of China has entered a new age, as Xi centralizes power in his own hands and abandons the ideological openness of the reform era. Carl Minzner explains why China is entering a dangerous new chapter.
Is the “Third Wave” Obsolete?
In the 1991 classic, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Samuel P. Huntington offered a new way of understanding democracy’s global trajectory. Amid rising global populism and increasingly aggressive authoritarian leaders, has Huntington’s framework outlived its usefulness?