January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Debating the Color Revolutions: Getting Real About “Real Causes”
Structure, agency, and process all are critical in explaining the uneven pattern of electoral change in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia.
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QUE LE PASO A Z GAS
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Debating the Color Revolutions: Popular Autocrats
Levels of regime strength and links to the West help to explain authoritarian breakdown, but the ruler’s popularity also matters.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Debating the Color Revolutions: Necessary Distinctions
Western pressure can be decisive, but it is not always easy to forecast when and how it will be applied.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Illiberal Resilience in Serbia
Serbia has become a country where political contention is vigorous, but illiberal forces have shown an ability to adapt to the new conditions.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Trends in Democracy Assistance: What Has Europe Been Doing?
In recent years, European aid in support of political development has been on the rise. What kind of programs have these funds been supporting, and where are they being spent?
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Morocco’s Elections: A Dynamic Civil Society
Since the 1990s, Moroccan civil society groups have been proliferating, and they are increasingly influential in addressing society-wide matters including the rights of women, ethnic minorities, and the poor.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Morocco’s Elections: Questions for the Future
The most important aspects of Morocco's September 2007 parliamentary election may have been things that did not happen: The Islamists did not win, and many citizens either did not vote or spoiled their ballots.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? The Political-Party Landscape
The real danger in East-Central Europe comes not from populist ideology or attempts to subvert democracy, but rather from the manipulation of democratic procedures by those in power.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Exchange: The Vain Hope for “Correct” Timing
The history of many of today’s established democracies shows that “out-of-sequence” democratization can lead to eventual success.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
The Democracy Barometers (Part I): Authoritarian Nostalgia in Asia
East Asia’s “third-wave” democracies are in distress, and the economic success of nondemocratic regimes in the region creates a tough standard for comparison.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
The Decline of the African Military Coup
Since the early 1990s, many African countries have undergone political liberalization, and so far this trend has been accompanied by a significant drop in the incidence of military coups.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
The Mexican Standoff: Taught to Protest, Learning to Lose
A crucial requirement of government by consent is the willingness of defeated candidates and parties to concede when the voters' verdict goes against them. Events in Mexico following its July 2006 presidential election have sorely tested that country's young democracy in this regard.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
Candidate Selection: The Choice Before the Choice
Voters casting ballots are an indispensable element of free government, but who decides which names go on those ballots? Although methods of candidate selection have received surprisingly little study by political scientists, they merit the attention of students of democracy everywhere.
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Favorable Conditions and Electoral Revolutions
Over the past decade, a series of "electoral revolutions" has taken place from Slovakia to Kyrgyzstan. Why has this path to democratization been especially common in the postcommunist region?
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Belarus: Learning From Defeat
The Belarusian presidential election of March 2006 appeared to be an exercise in meaninglessness, while the protests against manipulation by the Lukashenka regime seemed a study in futility. But appearances can deceive.
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Governance and Development
Embedding a vibrant market economy into strong democratic political institutions is the best way to ensure that political and economic empowerment play complementary roles improving the lives of citizens around the world.
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
The Crisis of Representation in the Andes
Despite a significant expansion of citizenship over the last few decades, the Andean nations face a severe crisis of democratic representation. The root of the problem lies not in the mechanisms of representation but in poor state performance.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The “Mystery” of the Soviet Collapse
There was nothing inevitable about the unraveling of Soviet communism. The role played by individuals such as Aleksandr Yakovlev was crucial.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The Debacle in Côte d’Ivoire
Despite hopes that 2005 would see an end to hostilities between rebels and government forces, neither disarmament nor elections took place. How did this once-prosperous country end up on the verge of anarchy and disaster?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
What Really Happened in Kyrgyzstan?
The March 2005 “Tulip Revolution” that toppled President Askar Akeyev is often grouped with the “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, but in many ways the Kyrgyz case was unique.