QUE LE PASO A Z GAS

The international drug trade has ravaged Latin America. Drug cartels and organized crime groups have grown powerful enough in some countries to infiltrate and even challenge the power of the state. As demand for drugs and profits soars, violence, death, and displacement rain down upon communities, leaving democracy and the economy in shambles.

Democracy is in decline, growing weaker from within. But why? And can we reverse the damage before it’s too late?

President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington to rally support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s unprovoked invasion. As the war’s second year grinds on, the Ukrainian people are looking for Zelensky to help their country succeed, not just survive. Will Zelensky be able to shepherd Ukraine to victory?

Activists are fighting for democracy’s freedoms across the globe. They do so at tremendous personal risk, facing arrest, imprisonment, and the fear they will never see their loved ones again. Read the inspiring words of former political prisoners from Tunisia, Russia, Egypt, China, Malaysia, and Burma.

In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Kurt Weyland argues that democracy almost always triumphs over populism. In fact, while strongmen may strain democratic institutions, they rarely come out on top.

This year of elections, just over halfway through, has been nothing short of dramatic, with shocks, upsets, protests, and political violence — most notably, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend. Democracy is being tested as increasingly polarized voters head to the polls. Will it succumb to division and distrust, or will it withstand its present trials?

After years of increasingly authoritarian rule, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan was hailed as a democratic reformer. But as Dan Paget and Aikande Clement Kwayu write in the July issue of the JoD, the president is more performer than reformer, relying on theatrics to delay real reform while sharpening her tools of repression.

Political violence is rising in wealthy democracies — not just the United States, but around the world. In a special release from the October issue of the Journal of Democracy, Rachel Kleinfeld and Nicole Bibbins Sedaca argue that political leaders have the power to stoke or stamp out this dangerous cycle of violence.

Today, President Nicolás Maduro will take the oath of office, despite a clear defeat in the July election. In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Javier Corrales and Dorothy Kronick explain how this came to pass.

Leading experts explain the significance of Prigozhin’s rebellion and what it means for Putin, his regime, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

In the face of acute polarization, predatory populists, and dysfunctional parties, what can we do to fix our democracies? In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Adam Przeworski, Michael Ignatieff, and Thomas Carothers grapple with these questions and explore possible solutions. Read their essays for free until the end of this month.

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is as insightful today as in 1835. On this Fourth of July, the Journal of Democracy is sharing three essays reflecting on the prescience of Tocqueville’s observations from nearly two centuries ago.