January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Democracy’s Inevitable Elites
Robert Michels’s classic work on the “iron law of oligarchy” can help us to understand why there is so much dissatisfaction with representative democracy.
2376 Results
democracy vs authoritarian
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
The Impact of the Economic Crisis: Why Democracies Survive
As an analysis of recent electoral results shows, the world’s emerging democracies are weathering the global economic crisis surprisingly well. Yet they remain under an even sharper threat from their own failures to deliver good governance.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy
The Editors’ introduction to “Islamist Parties and Democracy.”
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Are New Democracies War-Prone?
A review of Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War by Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The Emperor Has No Clothes
What can be done with regimes that proclaim their devotion to democratic principles but violate them in practice?
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The Quality of Democracy: Freedom as the Foundation
Freedom has always been integral to democracy. How to guard liberty is a question every democratic regime must answer.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
What Makes Democracies Collapse?
A review of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times: The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy by Nancy Bermeo.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital
Something happened in America starting in the mid-to-late twentieth century to diminish civic engagement and social connectedness. What could that “something” be? Why were fewer and fewer Americans going the polls, the pews, and town halls?
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Latin Democracy, Comprehensively
A review of Democracies in Development: Politics and Reform in Latin America by J. Mark Payne et al.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: The Democratic Path
The notion of countries being on the “path to democracy” remains valid unless and until they come up with a systemic alternative to democracy.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: A Reply to My Critics
The author of “The End of the Transition Paradigm” responds to each of his critics in turn.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices
The gravest challenges facing democracy in the Balkans are problems not of ethnicity or postcommunism, but of citizen disaffection and disillusionment.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Revisiting Florida 2000
The Editors’ introduction to “Revisiting Florida 2000.”
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Revisiting Florida 2000: Reflections from Russia
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Revisiting Florida 2000: Recommendations for Reform
Read the full essay here.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Revisiting Florida 2000: Lessons from Mexico
Read the full essay here.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Religion, Democracy, and the “Twin Tolerations”
Are all, or only some, of the world’s religious systems politically compatible with democracy?
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Democracy in the World—Tocqueville Reconsidered
The Editors’ introduction to “Democracy in the World.”