2375 Results
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
The Scottish National Party proposes to free Scotland from its supposed tutelage to London, but betrays habits of political centralism and elitism that raise questions about the quality of democracy an independent Scotland would enjoy.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
The Salvadoran president’s “iron fist” policies have become one of the most popular political brands in Latin America. But the very reasons that explain his success in El Salvador point to why his repressive approach will not succeed elsewhere.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidency in a landslide, but celebration of her election as the country’s first female president was blunted by a deeper concern: Mexico’s deteriorating democracy. In truth, the country’s democratic institutions are highly resilient, and there is reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Conventional scholarly wisdom holds that ethnic diversity within a given society generally dims democracy’s prospects. Careful reflection on the experience of many post-Soviet states, however, suggests that this need not be so.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Africa is a battleground between formal democratic institutions and rule by the will of the "big man." Civil society groups are waging this struggle, and technology is equipping them with surprising new tools.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Having suffered under both of the twentieth century's most brutal brands of dictatorship—fascism and communism—the CEE peoples have been dreaming of a new and better future, the future of the European Union and the Euro-Atlantic community.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Where indigenous peoples constitute a smaller share of the electorate, their recent inclusion denotes a more generalized opening of the political system to excluded and vulnerable sectors of society.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Basic demographic and socioeconomic factors in Iran are favorable to democratization. The mullahs may hope to stave off democratic change by emulating the Chinese model, but this strategy is doomed to fail.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
By mid-2003, Afghanistan appeared in danger of reverting to “failed-state” status. Happily, the resilience of the Afghans plus some policy changes by the United States and its parners have put things on the right track, though daunting challenges remain.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Muslim-majority, non-Arab countries are “overachievers” at electoral competitiveness. Arab countries, by contrast, constitute a distinctive political community that at present is inhospitable to competitive elections.
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
The famed former dissident reflects on the lessons learned from Poland’s transformation, the anxieties that continue to beset his country, and the hopes and fears that attend its return to Europe.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
The election cycle concluding in the spring of 2003 was a guarded success. High hurdles to better governance and democratic consolidation remain, but Nigerians can now face them with greater hope.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Drug cartels possess the power of militaries, the profits of corporations, and the coercive capacity of a state. They will not be eliminated any time soon. But the region’s democracies can seek to raise their costs, limit their influence, and curb the violence.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Covid-19 swept across Latin America with devastating effects. But it had unexpected positive consequences too, as citizens ousted inept politicians and pushed back against the inequities laid bare by the pandemic.
Spring 1990, Volume 1, Issue 2
Excerpts from: the victory speech of Nicaraguan presidential candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro; South African president F.W. de Klerk’s speech opening Parliament; the platform of Lithuania’s pro-independence Sajudis movement.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
A tribute in remembrance of Leszek Kolakowski (1927–2009).
Spring 1991, Volume 2, Issue 2
Excerpts from: the draft constitution of the Russian Republic; a letter from the mayor of Budapest, Hungary to the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania; the inaugural address Haitian president, Reverend Jean-Bertrand Astride.
Since the internet’s arrival in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1994, digital technologies have provided a critical channel of communication for Chinese citizens. In an environment where speech and access to information are heavily restricted, the internet has enabled citizens to get uncensored news, speak their minds, and even organize protests. Over the…
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Reports on elections in Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Mali, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Turkey.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Bahrain, Gabon, The Gambia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Serbia, and Turkmenistan.
