
AI’s High-Stakes Risks for Democracy
The emergence of AI with superhuman capabilities will come far sooner than previously thought. As AI advances, so does the potential for harm—including grave risks to democracy and human rights.
61 Results
The emergence of AI with superhuman capabilities will come far sooner than previously thought. As AI advances, so does the potential for harm—including grave risks to democracy and human rights.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
There is a growing sense today that democrats worldwide are in a race against time to prevent cyberspace from becoming an arena for surveillance, control, and manipulation.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
A review of The Death of Truth, by Steven Brill, and Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality, by Renée DiResta.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Chinese authorities are wielding facial-recognition software, big-data analytics, and other digital technologies to control China’s citizens by monitoring and assessing their activities, both online and off.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
A review of Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, by Ronald J. Deibert.
Since the internet’s arrival in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1994, digital technologies have provided a critical channel of communication for Chinese citizens. In an environment where speech and access to information are heavily restricted, the internet has enabled citizens to get uncensored news, speak their minds, and even organize protests. Over the…
January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
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 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
A review of The People vs. Tech: How the Internet Is Killing Democracy (and How We Save It) by Jamie Bartlett.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
A final statement by Russian activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny; The North Atlantic Council’s communiqué on Ukraine; Legal analyst Ethan Hee-Seok’s testimony on North Korean asylum-seekers at the China–North Korea border; “Voices of a New Belarus” by playwright Andrei Kureichik; Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s victory speech.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Excerpts from: imprisoned Chinese dissident Wang Dan’s first press conference; the Declaration of Santiago; “Strategic Initiatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Fundamentals for a New Beginning”; speeches on “Human Rights and Asian Values” given at the 54th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights; a postelection statement by Martin Lee, leader of the…
APSA Educate, an online library for political science teaching and learning materials, now features a set of Journal of Democracy subject guides. Topics range from AI’s risks for democracy to the crisis of liberalism to the state of democracy in India and Latin America. Visit APSA Educate to learn more.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Opposition movements often boycott rigged polls rather than risk legitimizing an autocrat. It is usually a mistake. Here is the playbook for how one opposition seized the advantage.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Not so long ago, the internet was being lauded as a force for greater freedom and democracy. With the rise of intrusive and addictive social media, however, a discomfiting reality has set in.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
Remarks on China from Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger; joint statement by David Kaye, Harlem Désir, and Edison Lanza on protecting the free flow of information during the covid-19 pandemic; open letter by Indian academic and Dalit-rights activist Anand Teltumbde; reflections from Joshua Wong on the future of Hong Kong’s prodemocracy movement
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Excerpts from: speeches and declarations issued in the course of the failed USSR coup; speeches presented at the First Ibero-American Summit; Charter 91, signed by more than 100 Iraqi expatriates.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
A decade ago, Arab peoples stood up and sought to replace their rulers with a more democratic political project. But Arab autocrats have a project of their own. Can the people gain ground in the struggle for self-government, or will their rulers bear it away?
The popular Chinese-owned app is helping Beijing collect people’s data everywhere, and giving it control over powerful tools that can shape their worldview. | Aynne Kokas
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
International spying and digital subversion used to be the province of governments. Now anyone who has the cash can order hi-tech snooping and surveillance. This is a threat to the future of freedom.
DeepSeek’s new frontier AI model is the CCP’s most powerful tool yet for surveillance and control. The following Journal of Democracy essays show how authoritarian governments leverage emerging tech to enhance repression. Read free for a limited time.
The Chinese Communist Party’s newest AI advance is making repression smarter, cheaper, and more deadly. Even worse, they aim to export it to the world.