Author Interview
New "Democracy Ideas" interview with Steven Heydemann about his JoD article "Tracking the "Arab Spring": Syria and the Future of Authoritarianism."
October 16, 2013
2485 Results
democracy vs authoritarian
Why Pakistan Always Seems on the Brink of Collapse
The military has spent decades trying to impose order on Pakistani politics. It has led to chaos. | By Ahsan I. Butt
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006)
A tribute in remembrance of the life of Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006).
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a letter by Thich Quang Do, Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and a leading human-rights advocate, to U.S. president Barack Obama; a declaration by prominent Latin American political leaders and activists calling for political and social opening in Cuba; the inaugural address of Taiwan’s new president Tsai Ing-wen.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: an open letter on the death of Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang; a speech by Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen; a pact by the mayors of Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.
January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Organization of American States resolutions on the “presidential coup” in Peru; the report of the Argentinian National Commission of Disappeared Persons.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: speeches by ANC President Nelson Mandela and South African President F.W. De Klerk from the International Press Institute’s 43rd General Assembly; a UN General Assembly resolution criticizing the continuing denial of human rights and democracy in Burma (Myanmar).
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Democratic Parliamentary Monarchies
How do democracies emerge from monarchies? In an essay that eminent political scientist Juan J. Linz was working on when he passed away in October 2013, he and his coauthors draw lessons from the European experience about whether and how Arab monarchies might aid or resist democratic development.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Latin American Presidencies Interrupted
Over the last two decades, Latin America has seen more than a dozen presidencies come to a premature end. It is time to consider changing constitutional designs that promote conflict rather than more consensual ways of doing politics.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
Burma Votes for Change: The Challenges Ahead
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy swept Burma’s November 2015 elections. Will the new NLD-led government be able to live up to high expectations that it will deliver better governance, national reconciliation, and some form of federalism?
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Why Are There No Arab Democracies?
Democracy has held its own or gained ground in just about every part of the world except for the Arab Middle East. Why has this crucial region remained such infertile soil for democracy?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: Three Kinds of Movements
The rise of Islamist parties poses new challenges to efforts to understand the relationship between Islam and democracy. A diverse group of authors investigates this new phenomenon and its implications for the future of democracy in the Middle East.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding?
The Editors’ introduction to “Is East-Central Europe Backsliding?”
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
East-Central Europe: The Young and the Far-Right
Far-right parties in Europe’s newer democracies have been working hard to appeal to younger citizens, and for good reason: Young people’s shifting values make them a ripe target for the far right.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
How Strategic Violence Distorts African Elections
Violence need not be lethal to pose a threat to democracy. Indeed, low-scale violence has proven to be a far more effective means of manipulating elections.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
A Refuge from Liberalism?
The belief we can “escape” remains a part of the liberal imagination. In truth, it is realized in the form of detachment from any community, an exodus without refuge.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Does Democracy Have a Future in Pakistan?
The schism between Pakistan’s military establishment and former prime minister Imran Khan marks a new era of instability. Is the country experiencing the rise of an autocratic deep state or the fall of authoritarian populism?
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
How Ukraine Divides Postcommunist Europe
In East-Central Europe, neither physical proximity nor memories of Soviet domination have united countries in their response to the war in Ukraine. What matters most is who stands to benefit.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
AI’s Economic Peril
AI will transform work and entire economies. The potential benefits also bring a dire risk of rising inequality and job losses. But the worst outcomes can still be avoided.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Why India’s Political Elites Are to Blame
India has a long history of elites acting undemocratically. But the current government’s attacks on the media, arrests of opposition, and discriminatory laws are deeper and more alarming.