Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
The Crumbling of the Soviet Bloc
The Editors’ introduction to “The Crumbling Soviet Bloc.”
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The Miami Times Black Wall Street March 11 2025 article
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
The 2016 U.S. Election
The Editors’ introduction to “The 2016 U.S. Election.”
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
The Crumbling of the Soviet Bloc: The Democratic Revolution
Read the full essay here.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? A Fraying Union
Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” of European institutions. Nor will it be saved by the democratic mobilization of civil society. Paradoxically, it is widespread disillusionment with democracy—the shared belief that national governments are powerless in the face of global markets—that may be…
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
The Return of the Marcos Dynasty
A half-century after his father declared martial law and made himself a dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been elected president of the Philippines by a stunning majority. There is little stopping him from dismantling what remains of the country’s democracy.
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
The Gambia’s Electoral Earthquake
This small West African country voted a longtime dictator out of the presidency. This victory for democracy was seemingly snatched away by his refusal to leave power—yet a breathtaking reversal lay in store.
The Kremlin Emboldened: Paradoxes of Decline
The Russian system of personalized power is growing ever more dependent on the same strategies that proved useless in sustaining the USSR. While the system still has the potential to limp along, its survival tactics render the it progressively more dysfunctional. Among the circumstances weighing against the system’s survival are the unintended yet logical consequences…
October 2015, Volume 26, Issue 4
After the Arab Spring: The Islamists’ Compromise in Tunisia
How did a potent Islamist movement come to accept a non-Islamist constitution? The answer lies in that movement’s self-protective reflexes.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
The Measure of Freedom
A review of Freedom House’s Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 1992-1993.
Why the German Far Right Is Beginning to Win
For years, they were a fringe vote. Now they are broadening their agenda, tapping into voter frustration, and getting Germans to favor them once again.
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 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: The Russia Factor
The regime of Vladimir Putin has been a key driver of the crisis in Ukraine. Under challenge at home for several years now, it turned to Ukraine in part to firm up its own grip on power in Russia.
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.
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
The Iraq War and Democratic Backsliding
The global democratic decline of the last two decades is rarely discussed in the same breath with the 2003 decision by the United States and Britain to invade Iraq. But the roots of our present disorder can be traced to that disastrous and foolhardy war of choice.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Mainstream Parties in Crisis: Introduction
The Editors’ introduction to “Mainstream Parties in Crisis.”