2492 Results
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
Text of “A Call to Defend Democracy,” initiated by International IDEA and the National Endowment for Democracy; televised statement by Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; open letter on the imprisonment of Turkish civil society leader Osman Kavala.
Will artificial intelligence end democracy? Read this symposium as part of the Journal of Democracy’s just-released October 2023 issue, available for free on Project MUSE through October 30, 2023.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
The early 1990s saw a wave of competitive multiparty elections in Africa. These contests can be described as "founding" elections in the sense that they marked for various countries a transition from an extended period of authoritarian rule to fledgling democratic government. By the middle of the 1990s, this wave had crested. Although founding elections…
Readers can download the following articles on iTunes free of charge: Edward Aspinall and Marcus Mietzner, “Southeast Asia’s Troubling Elections: Nondemocratic Pluralism in Indonesia” (October 2019) Rod Alence and Anne Pitcher, “Resisting State Capture in South Africa” (October 2019) Mai Hassan and Ahmed Kodouda, “Sudan’s Uprising: The Fall of a Dictator” (October 2019) Sheri Berman…
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
A tribute in remembrance of Leonardo Morlino (1947–2025).
In 2021, democracy’s fortunes were tested, and a tumultuous world became even more turbulent. Democratic setbacks arose in places as far flung as Burma, El Salvador, Tunisia, and Sudan, and a 20-year experiment in Afghanistan collapsed in days. The world’s democracies were beset by rising polarization, and people watched in shock as an insurrection took…
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
To say that Indian democracy is backsliding misunderstands the country’s history and the challenges it faces: A certain authoritarianism is embedded in India’s constitution and political structures.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Why do some hybrid regimes remain stable over time, while others become more authoritarian? Venezuela’s autocratic turn has been driven by the ruling party’s declining electoral fortunes and by a foreign policy that has shielded it from international scrutiny.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Authoritarian propaganda and manipulation are leading democratic publics to see foreign autocracies as more powerful than they actually are.
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Not only did the Algerian regime survive the “Arab Spring,” it hardly deviated from its normal methods of authoritarian governance—patronage, pseudodemocratization, and effective use of the security apparatus.
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?
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
A review of What Is Populism? by Jan-Werner Müller.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Morocco’s new king, Mohamed VI, has two alternatives: He can invent a new “ruling bargain,” prolonging his father’s authoritarian rule in a new guise, or he can spearhead serious political reforms.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
The stunning defeat of a draft constitution backed by President Robert Mugabe and the opposition’s unexpectedly strong showing in the June 2000 parliamentary elections may have marked the beginning of the end of ruling-party hegemony in Zimbabwe.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
Authoritarian regimes are targeting exiles and diaspora communities in more places than ever before. Activists, journalists, and regular people living abroad must watch their backs, because these governments now have the power to suppress dissent even outside their borders.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracies are under stress, but they are not about to buckle. The erosion of norms and other woes do not spell democratic collapse. With incredibly few exceptions, affluent democracies will endure, no matter the schemes of would-be autocrats.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
Regular elections have become a fixture of political life throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but there are now “two Africas” in this regard: one where elections bring the blessings of greater political openness and competition, and another where elections are, in effect, one more tool that authoritarians use to retain power.
Journal of Democracy contributors talk with Managing Editor Brent Kallmer about the articles in the Journal, which is published by Johns Hopkins University Press for the National Endowment for Democracy. Adrienne LeBas Adrienne LeBas discusses her essay “A New Twilight in Zimbabwe? The Perils of Power Sharing” from the April 2014 issue of the Journal of Democracy.…
