April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
India’s Improbable Success
A review of India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha and The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India's Future by Martha C. Nussbaum.
2376 Results
democracy vs authoritarian
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
China’s Would-Be Citizens
A review of Inside Iraq's Confessional Politics by Junning Liu.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Africa: States in Crisis
Democratic and ecnomic development will become sustainable in sub-Saharan Africa only with the emergence of coherent, legitimate and effective states.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The 30th Anniversary Freedom House Survey: Liberty’s Advances in a Troubled World
The largely positive trends indicated in this year’s Freedom House Survey encourage cautious optimism on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The Deadlock in Iran: Constitutional Constraints
The vast obstacles to democratic reformism include basic provisions in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic itself.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11: Time for an Audit
Talk about the Middle East and those who study it has become understandably heated. But we can learn more through a calm assessment of the achievements and weaknesses of this field.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11: Defending the Discipline
Is the field of Middle East studies as badly flawed as some critics charge? A fair-minded look at the last 10 or 15 years of research suggests otherwise.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Clans, Pacts, and Politics in Central Asia
This region’s five republics have just lived through a remarkable first decade of independence that raises questions about “preconditions”-based theories of democratization.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
A New Look at Federalism: Italy Decentralizes
Italy has long mixed great local and regional diversity with a unitary approach to governance. In October 2001, however, Italian voters approved a series of changes to their country’s Constitution that could mark a decisive turn toward federalism.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society
Recent studies suggest that civil society in the postcommunist countries is significantly weaker than in other types of democracies, old or new. Can this legacy of communism be overcome? If not, what are the implications for democracy?
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Reconstructing Afghanistan
A review of Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban by Larry P. Goodson; and Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
How Burma Could Democratize
How can Burma peacefully move away from military rule and toward a stable democratic system based on sound electoral and federal arrangements?
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Why Direct Election Failed in Israel
Israel began directly electing its prime minister in 1992, only to abandon this change less than ten years later. What came between was a series of hard lessons in the unintended consequences or reform.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Francophone Africa in Flux: Mali’s Decade of Democracy
Since 1992, Mali has managed to preserve its democracy in the face of great odds. Continued vigilance will be needed, however, to prevent the gains of the past decade from slipping away.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Democracy as a Starting Point
Democracy by itself does not put an end to injustice or inequality, but it establishes the most favorable conditions for making progress in the struggle to achieve a just society.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Arabs and Democracy: Illusions of Change
Many observers regarded 1999 as a year of progress for democracy in the Arab world. There is reason to doubt, however, whether any meaningful change has really occurred.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
The Axis Powers 50 Years Later: Germany—A New “Wall in the Mind”?
Read the full essay here.
October 2014, Volume 25, Issue 4
Flirting with Disaster
A review of The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present by David Runciman.
How Maduro Survived
The Venezuelan dictator defied sanctions, international isolation, and massive protests. He appears to have a firmer footing than he’s had in years. Now what? | Will Freeman
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
Belarus Uprising: The Making of a Revolution
Well-organized demonstrations are rocking the 26-year-old dictatorship of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Inside the movement and why it rose when it did.