July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Putinism Under Siege: The Protesters and the Public
After the December 2011 State Duma elections, the Russian opposition and civil society quickly launched large protest rallies in response to electoral fraud.
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QUE LE PASO A Z GAS
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins
Turkey and Thailand, two countries at different corners of the Asian landmass, appear at first glance to be an odd couple, but a closer look at their respective political situations reveals surprising parallels.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
The DRC’s Crumbling Legitimacy
On 9 December 2011, incumbent president Joseph Kabila was declared the official winner of the DRC’s deeply flawed presidential election, resulting in a legal president without legitimacy and an uncertain political future.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Senegal: What Will Turnover Bring?
Although Senegal has often been regarded as a democracy, its regime should more properly have been classified as competitive authoritarian. Will the 2012 election of a new president prove to be a turning point?
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Southeast Asia: Strong-State Democratization in Malaysia and Singapore
The strong state in Malaysia and Singapore best explains why their authoritarian regimes have proved so stable and enduring. That is also the reason why democratization would go smoothly in both countries—yet, paradoxically, might never happen there at all.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Debating Electoral Systems: Getting Elections Wrong
Evidence from waves of democratization shows proportional election systems, however imperfect, to be the better option in most contexts.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Nigeria Votes: More Openness, More Conflict
Nigeria’s 2011 presidential election offered its citizens the most competitive and transparent contest in decades, but also the bloodiest.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
The Upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia: Ben Ali’s Fall
The wave of unrest that swept through the Arab world at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 originated in Tunisia. What happened— and what are the prospects that Tunisia will make a successful transition to democracy?
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
FOI Laws Around the World
Are laws guaranteeing citizens freedom of access to public information (FOI laws) among the most important democratic innovations of the last century?
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Mauritius: Paradise Reconsidered
Once dismissed as an “overcrowded barracoon,” this Indian Ocean island nation has more recently been hailed as one of Africa’s “emerging success stories,” but the truth is that some troublesome shadings haunt this rosy picture.
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
Success Stories from “Emerging Africa”
A group of countries in sub-Saharan Africa are showing they can sustain economic growth, reduce poverty, and achieve better governance at the same time.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
Indonesia: The Irony of Success
Indonesia is widely lauded as a democratic success story for rolling back the military, keeping radical Islam in check, and institutionalizing democratic freedoms. But this success has had costs in terms of democratic quality.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Twenty-Five Years, Fifteen Findings
A coauthor of the pathbreaking study Transitions from Authoritarian Rule reflects on the lessons that he has learned about democratic transition and consolidation since the publication of this work nearly 25 years ago.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
The Crash of ’08
The short-term political impact of the economic crisis has been less dramatic than initially expected, but it may have lasting effects on the “quality” of democracy, including the legitimacy of prevailing financial institutions.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: Deepening Dissatisfaction
Today, twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there is a growing ambiguity about the historical significance of 1989 and about the state of democracy in Europe (particularly Central Europe).
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: What’s the Matter with Russia?
The author analyses the confluence of several elements that helped to set Russia’s course: the influence of history; the challenges of the transformation process itself; the importance of leadership; and the role of the West.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Democratic Triumph, Scholarly Pessimism
By any measure, democratization has achieved remarkable advances over the past twenty years. Why, then, have so many of the leading works written on the topic during this period been so full of gloom?
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Does Electoral Democracy Boost Economic Equality?
The recent global progress of democracy has been accompanied by increasing economic inequality. What are the implications for the quality of democracy and for its ability to endure?
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Aiding Latin America’s Poor
Latin American social policy has at times worked backwards, widening rather than narrowing economic and social inequalities. But new conditional cash-transfer programs seem to be producing positive outcomes.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): East-Central Europe’s Quandary
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been struggling to devise approaches to political economy that can bring stability, prosperity, and a measure of equality in a world dominated by global finance and exchange.