Why Vladimir Putin’s Luck Ran Out
For twenty years, the Russian autocrat enjoyed a string of good fortune in coming to power and cementing his rule. He had raised Russia’s standing in the world. Then he invaded Ukraine. | Michael McFaul
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The Curse of the Ex-Presidents
Online Exclusive by Casey Cagley | Across Latin America, former leaders are keeping a chokehold on their countries’ politics. It’s time their successors break free.
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. | Sarath K. Ganji
Democracy in East Asia
"Asian and non-Asian authors debate the desirability of democracy in East Asia… The two editors… do an excellent job introducing the issues, ideas, and approaches of the fifteen authors."—Foreign Affairs
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Kishore’s World
The widely hailed writings of Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani, including his latest book, The Great Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World, reveal a remarkably narrow and Manichean worldview.
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 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Why India’s Democracy Is Dying
Under Narendra Modi, India is maintaining the trappings of democracy while it increasingly harasses the opposition, attacks minorities, and stifles dissent. It can still reverse course, but the damage is mounting.
Why the French Strike
Why are the French protesting this time? Emmanuel Macron is imposing deeply unpopular reforms, and it’s one of the only ways left to check an arrogant and tone-deaf president.
Will the Far Right Run the EU?
A week from today, voters across all 27 European Union countries will head to the polls to elect the next European Parliament. The following Journal of Democracy essays chronicle the far right’s rise across Europe and consider the dangers it presents in the region and beyond.
January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
China’s Threat to Global Democracy
The Chinese Communist Party is deadly serious about its authoritarian designs, and it is bent on promoting them. It is time for the world’s democracies to get serious, too.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Revisiting Florida 2000: Reflections from Russia
Read the full essay here.
January 1997, Volume 8, Issue 1
A Laureate’s Lament
A review of The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis, by Wole Soyinka.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: The Return to Personalistic Rule
After Mao, Deng Xiaoping tried to institutionalize collective leadership, but this did not stop Xi Jinping from grasping all the levers of power.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
The Rise of Political Violence in the United States
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Reading Russia: It’s No Mystery
A fan of Mario Puzo’s Godfather novels will see the Putin government for what it is: a mafia.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
The Crisis of Liberalism
Liberalism as a governing order is barely two centuries old. A response to the great alternatives presented by Europe’s political history, it represents a unique synthesis of the ancient and the modern. But globalization has cast a deep shadow across liberalism’s future.
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Shifting Tides in South Asia: Reform and Resistance in Nepal
After a decade of upheavals, Nepal elected in November 2013 its Second Constituent Assembly, but it is still unclear whether elites will accept reforms that empower wider sections of society.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? Twin Troubles
Confidence in all European institutions is at a record low. What explains this lack of trust, and how can it be restored? To begin with, the eurozone needs a workable long-term solution, and the EU as a whole must come to terms with the reality of a two-speed integration process.