3272 Results
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
The schism between Pakistan’s military establishment and former prime minister Imran Khan marks a new era of instability. Is the country experiencing the rise of an autocratic deep state or the fall of authoritarian populism?
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Viewed until recently as an exemplar of democratic transformation, Poland is increasingly seen as a leading case of democratic backsliding, thanks to a series of illiberal measures pushed through by the Law and Justice party.
October 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4
Once the poster child for successful postcommunist transitions to democracy, Poland is now governed by populist nationalists. What happened?
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Contrary to popular wisdom, emerging democracies might be better off with a majoritarian electoral system rather than one based on proportional representation.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Constitution writers in ethnically or otherwise divided countries should focus on designing a system of power-sharing rules and institutions. Studies by political scientists point to a set of basic recommendations that should form a starting point for constitutional negotiations.
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.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
The year 2020 saw the global weakening of democratic norms reinforced by authoritarian influence campaigns, crackdowns on protest movements, and the use and abuse of new powers adopted in the name of responding to the covid-19 pandemic.
January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
Ethiopia’s ruling party has long been tightening its grip, using antiterrorism laws and harsh restrictions on media and civil society to silence voices critical of the regime.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Popular dissatisfaction and tensions within the long-ruling EPRDF have led to the rise of a young reformist leader who has begun a course of bold reversals in favor of greater freedom and openness.
Strongman nostalgia, conspiracy theories, and lies. It’s a powerful blend that keeps populists in power. In the Philippines, political clans have weaponized these messages against each other.
October 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4
The surprise victory of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines’ May 2016 presidential election represents a major shift in the liberal-democratic regime established thirty years ago after the “people power” revolution.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
What does public opinion tell us about Burma’s longer-term prospects for democracy? The Asian Barometer Survey reveals contradictory attitudes regarding democracy and democratic values among the citizens of Burma.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
In Hungary’s 2010 general elections, Fidesz won 68 percent of the seats in parliament—allowing it to impose a wholly new constitutional order.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Excerpts from: a declaration issued by the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba; an open letter issued by leading democrats decrying Russian president Vladimir Putin’s series of “reforms”; a statement issued by forty leading civil society groups from the Middle East and North Africa; an open letter issued in response to the initiation of criminal…
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
AI is destined to become another stage for geopolitical conflict. In this contest, autocracies have the advantage, as they vacuum up valuable data from democracies, while democracies inevitably incorporate data tainted by repression.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
By mid-2003, Afghanistan appeared in danger of reverting to “failed-state” status. Happily, the resilience of the Afghans plus some policy changes by the United States and its parners have put things on the right track, though daunting challenges remain.
“Every opportunity must be used to speak out . . . I love Russia. My intellect tells me that it is better to live in a free and prosperous country than in a corrupt and impoverished one.”
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
Capitalism is often blamed for democracy’s ills. But much of the blame is misplaced. It is not business capture of the state but rather state capture of business that poses the greatest danger to democracy.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India has long baffled theorists of democracy. Democratic theory holds that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarchical social structure are inhospitable conditions for the functioning of democracy. Yet except for 18 months in 1975-77, India has maintained its democratic institutions ever since it became independent of Britain in 1947. Over those five decades, there…
The small Latin American country was a brief democratic bright spot. But it appears to have fallen victim to a clash between populists and anti-populists, without a democrat in sight. | Will Freeman
