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democracy vs authoritarian

April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2

Tanzania: The Authoritarian Landslide

With brutal resolve, the ruling party sought not merely to win an election, but to annihilate the opposition. Now, with President John Magufuli gone, that strategic rationale will likely only grow stronger.

October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4

Singapore: Authoritarian but Newly Competitive

Singapore has long been known for combining economic development with strict limits on political opposition. But its 2011 parliamentary elections suggest that it is moving toward “competitive authoritarianism.”

January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1

Shell Game

Trillions of dollars are stashed in the world’s secret financial system, where they are keeping autocratic regimes afloat and fueling democracy’s decline.

China’s Threat to Global Democracy

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. | Michael Beckley and Hal Brands

October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo’s annual address; Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan’s opening statement at a ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; a statement by Panamanian president Ernesto Pérez Balladares; a speech by Romanian president Emil Constantinescu addressed to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. 

About the Journal of Democracy

The Journal of Democracy is the world’s leading publication on the theory and practice of democracy. Since its first appearance in 1990, it has engaged both activists and intellectuals in critical discussions of the problems of and prospects for democracy around the world. Today, the Journal is at the center of debate on the major…

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April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2

America’s Crisis of Civic Virtue

The problem for democracy today is not capitalism; it is a decline in public honesty and civility. But there is an opportunity to revive our sense of national community, if we seize it.

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April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2

Weaponizing Interpol

Globalized authoritarian regimes are increasingly abusing Interpol’s notice system to go after political opponents based abroad. These regimes seek not only to punish their critics, but also to legitimate their own acts of repression.

April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2

Documents on Democracy

Excerpts from: Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence from Serbia; U.K. foreign secretary David Miliband’s speech, “The Democratic Imperative”; the power-sharing agreement between the Kenyan president and opposition leader; “Pakistan’s Tipping Point” by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party.  

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July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3

Why India’s Democracy Is Dying

Under Narendra Modi, India is maintaining the trappings of democracy while it increasingly harasses the opposition, attacks minorities, and stifles dissent. It can still reverse course, but the damage is mounting.

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July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3

Democracy as a Universal Value

The recognition of democracy as a universally relevant system is a major revolution in thinking, and one of the main contributions of the twentieth century. While not yet universally practiced, democracy is now being taken as generally right.