How Turkey’s Opposition Won Big
Less than a year after a bitter loss, the opposition dealt Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling party their largest electoral defeat in decades. The question is whether they can now build on their success.
1930 Results
Nayib Bukele self-deprecating slogan July 2019 article
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
When Should the Majority Rule?
With illiberal forces ascendant across the globe, protecting individual liberties and the democratic process is crucial. But when institutions empower minority groups over the majority, can democracy survive?
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Hindu Nationalism and the New Jim Crow
While the histories of white supremacy and Hindu supremacy are different, their political objectives are much the same. The BJP is forging a regime of exclusion and oppression as brutal as the Jim Crow South. Only India’s voters can reverse its advance.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Estonia, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Micronesia, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Singapore, and Uganda.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Armenia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Moldova, Paraguay, Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Ukraine, Yugoslavia (Montenegro).
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
The Putin Myth
Vladimir Putin’s reputation as a skillful leader was buoyed by years of economic good fortune. But when his regime faltered, his rule quickly descended into the fearful, repressive, and paranoid state we see today.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: remarks by Xu Youyu made while accepting the Homo Homini Award on behalf of imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo; the African Union’s decision on the forced resignation of Madagascar’s president; the inaugural address of Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes; ASEAN’s statement condemning Burma’s treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi.
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Chile, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Guyana, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lithuania, Mauritania, South Korea, Yugoslavia (Serbia).
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from remarks presented by newly elected Chilean president Sebastián Piñera upon signing a set of proposed laws for the strengthening of democracy to be submitted to the Congress.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The Emperor Has No Clothes
What can be done with regimes that proclaim their devotion to democratic principles but violate them in practice?
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: The Rise of the Technocrats
With both reformists and leftists pushed aside, political center-stage now belongs to new pragmatists both inside and outside the Communist Party.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The Deadlock in Iran: Pressures from Below
Despite today’s gridlock, there are grounds for hope in the widespread embrace of democratic ideals by young people.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: The Decline of Pluralism in Mubarak’s Egypt
Since a tenuous political opening a decade ago, the Mubarak regime has systematically asphyxiated democracy in Egypt.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Financing Politics: A Global View
Though it is a burning issue in many countries, the question of money and politics is seldom studied on a worldwide scale.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Zimbabwe’s Hijacked Election
Realizing that power would slip from his grasp if he allowed an honest presidential election in 2002, longtime strongman Robert Mugabe resorted to antidemocratic tactics that set a new low in cruelty and dishonesty.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Dark Days in Belarus
Why did Belarusians return dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power in September 2001? Could a better-managed opposition campaign have made a difference?
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Post-Coup Politics in the Gambia
The Gambia provides a lesson in how authoritarians can hold votes yet rob their people of the power that the ballot box is supposed to give them.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Elections Without Democracy: The Menu of Manipulation
Elections, usually taken to be a hallmark of democracy, can also become a tool of authoritarian powerholders seeking to legitimate their rule.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Russia’s Hybrid Regime
In Russia, formally democratic institutions coexist uneasily with the reality of tightly consolidated bureaucratic and executive power.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Putin’s Path
Although his methods are hardly democratic, Putin’s efforts to strengthen the Russian state may help democracy in the long term.