
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
The Value of “Tyrannophobia”
Democratic death has been exaggerated. But fear that a democracy is going to break down may, ironically, be one of the things that protects it.
857 Results
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democratic death has been exaggerated. But fear that a democracy is going to break down may, ironically, be one of the things that protects it.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracies are increasingly under attack by the leaders they elect. We may not know the damage until it is too late.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
What made the “color revolutions” of the early 2000s possible? There were 7 factors that allowed for these democratic breakthroughs. Today, Venezuela has 6 of them, and it may soon have the last one it needs.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
As President Erdoğan’s grip on power is slipping, his regime is turning more repressive. But Turkey may still avoid becoming a full-blown autocracy. The opposition is increasingly popular, and there remains a way to tilt the playing field to their advantage.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
China’s 1989 democracy movement was brutally suppressed, but a former student leader argues that it also planted the seeds for the growth of Chinese civil society and for future democratization.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Latin America’s much-discussed political “left turn” has taken two very different forms. Why has the region’s commodities boom led some left-turn states to move toward “plebiscitarian superpresidentialism,” while others have resisted this temptation?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Read the full essay here. This article makes a case of the basic distinction between Islam and Islamism and presents three central arguments: 1. through religious reforms and a rethinking of the Islamic doctrine, the cultural system of Islam can be put in harmony with democracy, 2. this (first) argument does not apply to Islamism…
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
The regime’s ill-fated policy to eliminate covid from China spurred the largest protests in a generation. It also made Xi Jinping’s challenge of maintaining authoritarian control over Chinese society even harder.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Why do ordinary people vote to return to office undemocratic incumbents? New survey experiments in several countries suggest that many voters are willing to put their partisan interests above democratic principles—a finding that may be key to understanding democratic backsliding.
The economy is spiraling, public frustration is mounting, and the regime is becoming more repressive. The next time Egyptians come to the streets, they will be looking for more than promises and free elections.
Marine Le Pen has remade her image to obscure her far-right populism. There is a real risk French voters won’t see through it.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Many pundits cry for a negotiated settlement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they misunderstand Vladimir Putin’s motives. The only just end to the war will be in the trenches, not at the bargaining table.
January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
When ordinary voters are given a choice between democracy and partisan loyalty, who will put democracy first? Frighteningly, Europe harbors a deep reservoir of authoritarian potential.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
Sub-Saharan African governments are clamping down on media freedom. More surprising is how many of their citizens appear to support this attack on the press.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
An interview with Vladimir Kara-Murza; María Corina Machado on the Venezuelan opposition movement; a speech from Bangladesh’s new interim chief advisor; an open letter from Tunisian opposition candidates; a professor on the youth anticorruption protests in Uganda; and NATO’s seventy-fifth anniversary.
October 2019, Volume 30, Issue 4
Despite the lack of electoral turnover in ANC-ruled South Africa, the country’s successful resistance to efforts at “state capture” under former president Jacob Zuma testifies to the vitality of its democracy.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
AI with superhuman abilities could emerge within the next few years, and there is currently no guarantee that we will be able to control them. We must act now to protect democracy, human rights, and our very existence.
Why Emmanuel Macron’s reelection hangs on him winning support from the very people he has ignored most. April 2022 By Moshik Temkin This month’s French presidential election is giving off a strong sense of déjà vu. As in 2017 and 2002, a center-right presidential candidate (this time, current president Emmanuel Macron) faces off in…
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has done something for the world’s democrats they could seemingly not do for themselves—given them renewed unity, purpose, and resolve.