July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
The Future of Platform Power: Fixing the Business Model
To stop surveillance capitalism, take aim at the targeted advertising that fuels it.
1985 Results
Nayib Bukele self-deprecating slogan July 2019 article
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Latin America Erupts: Ecuador’s Return to the Past
Reformist leaders offered order, stability, and progress. But the country’s deep-seated political pathologies have proven far more durable than their promises.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Latin America Erupts: Re-founding Chile
Chilean democracy has opted to throw off a constitution written by a dictator, and has chosen an assembly to craft a new one. Can Chile begin anew?
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
How Taiwan Stands Up to China
No country in the world is more intensely targeted by Beijing’s influence operations than Taiwan. The lead-up to the January 2020 elections saw China putting a full-court press on the island, but Taiwanese democracy broke it.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
What Is “Sharp Power”?
Today’s authoritarians are using “sharp power” to project their influence internationally, with the objective of limiting free expression, spreading confusion, and distorting the political environment within democracies.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: Czech Democracy Under Pressure
Recent electoral victories by a pro-Russian president and a populist prime minister point to an antiestablishment wave in the Czech Republic. Yet strong checks and balances, EU ties, and a different outlook among younger voters may help to safeguard liberal democracy.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: Slovakia’s Conflicting Camps
The political turmoil following a journalist’s murder in Slovakia has revealed serious dangers to the country’s democratic institutions.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Modernization and Authoritarianism
Embracing a new model of capitalist authoritarianism, a number of nondemocratic regimes have made startling gains in state capacity, posing a new challenge to the appeal and advance of liberal democracy.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Mass Protests and the Military
When nonviolent mass protests occur under authoritarian regimes, the military plays a key role in determining the outcome: the hardening of the dictatorship, a new authoritarian regime, or a transition to democracy.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Has Liberia Turned a Corner?
The retirement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Weah’s election as her successor open a new chapter for a country that has made great strides since its brutal civil war, but where progress remains tenuous.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
China’s Disaffected Insiders
The CCP regime has lost support among three groups it should normally be able to count on: street-level police, retired military officers, and state employees who are drafted into stifling dissent on the part of their own relatives.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: Toward a Hindu State?
Read the full essay here. While the Constitution of India has not been amended after the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014, BJP-ruled states have passed laws which have reflected the Hindu-nationalist ideology of this party, including those known as “beef bans.” These laws and the activities of Hindu nationalist…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Federalist Compromise
Read the full essay here. The institutionalized recognition of diversity within India’s federal system has been crucial for democratic consolidation. Substantial decentralization since the 1990s has made state governments central actors in shaping economic activity and national-election outcomes. However, since his rise to national office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has projected an image…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Disputed Role of the Courts
Read the full essay here. India’s Supreme Court has played the role of a countermajoritarian check but has also flirted with populism. This essay examines three aspects of India’s higher judiciary: the struggle between the judiciary and the other branches over “custody” of the Constitution; the question of judicial independence and who has the right…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Troublesome Security State
Read the full essay here. Seven decades after gaining its independence from the British Empire, India retains all the hallmarks of a functioning democracy: It holds reasonably free and fair elections, has a mostly independent judiciary plus a largely free press, and enjoys a robust and growing civil society. Yet thanks to India’s colonial inheritance…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
The Rise of Referendums: Demystifying Direct Democracy
Plebiscites have grown less common in recent decades in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries, even as the use of referendums in democracies has expanded. Despite their many shortcomings, referendums are, on balance, a mechanism for strengthening democracy.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Danger of Deconsolidation: How Much Should We Worry?
The evidence presented by Foa and Mounk is troubling, but it does not mean that democracy is now in long-term decline.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa: How International Pressure Can Help
The interplay between elections, popular protests, and international pressures has a profound effect on the behavior of African autocrats and their ability to stay in power even after their time is up.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Assault on Postcommunist Courts
A number of countries in East-Central Europe are facing a grave crisis of constitutional democracy. As their governments seek to undermine the institutional limits on their power, constitutional courts have become a central target.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
Delegative Democracy Revisited: More Inclusion, Less Liberalism in Bolivia
Over the last decade or so, Bolivia has made great progress at wider political and social inclusion, but at some cost to civil liberties and horizontal accountability.