July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Enrolling India
A review of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise by Ornit Shani.
1930 Results
Nayib Bukele self-deprecating slogan July 2019 article
October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Is Ethiopia Democratic?
The Editors’ introduction to “Is Ethiopia Democratic?”
October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Liberal Voices from China
The Editors’ introduction to “Liberal Voices from China.”
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
The Rebirth of the Liberal World Order?
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has done something for the world’s democrats they could seemingly not do for themselves—given them renewed unity, purpose, and resolve.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Why Sudan Succeeded Where Algeria Failed
Mass uprisings toppled dictators in both Sudan and Algeria in 2019, but only Sudan was able to secure a transition to democracy due to important differences in their protest movements, militaries, and the role of the international community.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Sri Lanka: The Return to Ethnocracy
The return to power, via elections, of the Rajapaksa family signals the consolidation of a Sinhalese Buddhist ethnocracy. But there are reasons to hope it will not take a turn toward full despotism.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
An Illiberal India?
The country’s hold on electoral democracy is firm, but its claim still to be a liberal democracy is increasingly dubious.
The Life of the Party
Establishment parties are flagging. They should learn from political disruptors.
Breaking Out of Xi’s Great Prison
Chinese citizens from Urumqi to Shanghai took to the streets, blank sheets of white paper in hand, to denounce the CCP and call for change. Xi Jinping’s repression and zero-covid lockdowns have united the public in empathy and anger. | Guoguang Wu
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Why Ukraine Shouldn’t Negotiate with Putin
Many pundits cry for a negotiated settlement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they misunderstand Vladimir Putin’s motives. The only just end to the war will be in the trenches, not at the bargaining table.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
AI and Catastrophic Risk
AI with superhuman abilities could emerge within the next few years, and there is currently no guarantee that we will be able to control them. We must act now to protect democracy, human rights, and our very existence.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Populism and the Decline of Social Democracy
In both Eastern and Western Europe, social-democratic parties have shifted to the center on economic policy, not only sapping the electoral strength of these parties, but also opening up political space for the populist right.
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
Bread and Autocracy in Putin’s Russia
The Kremlin wields food as a weapon and a shield against Western interference. But Putin’s push for food autarky could backfire, driving up prices and turning Russians against the regime.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
30 Years of World Politics: What Has Changed?
Democracies are grappling with an era of transformation: Identity is increasingly replacing economics as the major axis of world politics. Technological change has deepened social fragmentation, and trust in institutions is falling. As our most basic assumptions come under question, can liberal democracy rebuild itself?
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the Transitional Period Charter of Ethiopia; a pamphlet of the Free Trade Union of China; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s declaration on Poland and Russia.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mexico, and Moldova.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Algeria, Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Maldives, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Panama, Slovakia, and South Africa.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
The Liberalism of Refuge
Liberal societies are those which offer refuge from the very people they empower—through individual choice, mobility, and the possibility of exit. This is the form of liberty that most clearly elevates the liberal project.
JoD Audio Interviews
Journal of Democracy contributors talk with Managing Editor Brent Kallmer about the articles in the Journal, which is published by Johns Hopkins University Press for the National Endowment for Democracy. Adrienne LeBas Adrienne LeBas discusses her essay “A New Twilight in Zimbabwe? The Perils of Power Sharing” from the April 2014 issue of the Journal of Democracy.…
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond
Read the full essay here. The Editors’ introduction to “The Maidan and Beyond.”