1256 Results
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
The “third wave” of democracy started in 1974 — or so the story goes. But the crests and crashes of waves of democracy and authoritarianism have been neglected. A close look can help us understand the current moment, when democracy appears to be in retreat.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Since their transitions, the democracies of the “third wave” have followed a range of trajectories beyond simple survival or breakdown. Many have stagnated at low levels of democracy and some have suffered democratic erosion, but there also have been cases of democratic deepening against the odds.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
Authoritarian regimes are not lawless. Rather, autocrats take to the courtroom not only to enforce their will but to justify their rule. So how do they appeal to reason? How do they rationalize their undemocratic turn?
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
We must face an uncomfortable truth: Democracies often fail to reverse the damage after an authoritarian lapse, if they manage to recover at all. If we are to make our political systems more resilient, we must steel democracy against authoritarianism before it is too late.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Democracies must grapple not only with the proliferation of AI to authoritarian and illiberal regimes, but also with the temptation that AI poses for democratic governments themselves.
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.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Sergei Adamovich’s remarks on the death of Andrei Sakharov; Marjan Farsad’s “Moonlight”; joint letter for a global moratorium on surveillance-technology sales; Zambian president Haikande Hichilema’s inaugural address.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Reports on elections in Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mexico, and Moldova.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Iran, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, and Yemen.
October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4
Excerpts from: testimony delivered at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; remarks by National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman; remarks delivered at a reception marking the opening of Mongolia’s new parliament.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
In both Eastern and Western Europe, social-democratic parties have shifted to the center on economic policy, not only sapping the electoral strength of these parties, but also opening up political space for the populist right.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Reports on elections in Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, East Timor, Fiji, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, and Uganda.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
For much of its history, Nicaragua has shown a predilection for personalist and populist rule. What explains the persistence and allure of these phenomena, and what obstacles do they pose for democracy in Nicaragua?
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
In March 2008, Malaysian voters dealt the long-ruling National Front coalition an enormous shock—pushing that party closer to losing power than it has ever been in Malaysia’s entire history as an independent country.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Evidence from the postcommunist countries shows that the strength of the legislature may be the institutional key to democratic consolidation.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
The country’s armed forces opened the door to democracy, only to help slam it shut a decade later. A desire for prestige and political influence has turned them into an autocrat’s accomplice.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Despite a turbulent history and rampant corruption, Panama has emerged as one of Latin America’s richest and most stable democracies. How can this be?
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Just as public frustration with democracy is mounting across the West, social turmoil and new technologies are splintering the very political authority governments need to act.
October 2019, Volume 30, Issue 4
The military junta that seized power in 2014 finally organized an election in 2019, but with the goal of preventing rather than facilitating a return to civilian rule.
