898 Results
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
Does the nature of an authoritarian regime affect the potential for democratic transition? Data since 1972 indicate that some kinds of authoritarian regimes are more likely to democratize than others.
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Over the past decade, a series of "electoral revolutions" has taken place from Slovakia to Kyrgyzstan. Why has this path to democratization been especially common in the postcommunist region?
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The Communist Party’s adaptation to China’s new social elites will lead to a democratic transition only, if at all, at the expense of regime continuity.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Populism is a mortal threat to liberal democracy, but it rarely hits the mark. The evidence shows that these would-be strongmen require an extraordinary set of circumstances to succeed, which is why they so rarely do.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
Excerpts from: Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s inaugural address; the March 29 statement issued by the 31-member Libyan Interim National Council; the final statement issued by participants of the Conference for Change in Syria.
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
Excerpts from: a declaration by the Federation for a Democratic China; the preamble to the “guiding principles” of the Beijing Works Autonomous Federation; principles accepted by the South West People’s Association, a Namibian political party; a letter by Cardinal František Tomašek; a political program by the Czechoslovak Civic Forum; an announcement by the East German…
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
Taking advantage of broad global respect for regionalism, authoritarian regimes are using their own regional organizations to bolster fellow autocracies. These groupings offer a mechanism for lending legitimacy, redistributing resources, and insulating members from democratic influences.
October 2015, Volume 26, Issue 4
Data from the Arab Barometer suggest that Arabs have not rejected democracy. In fact, they still by and large believe in it and want it.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Why do significant numbers of people, after gaining the right to choose their leaders via free and fair elections, vote for political parties with deep roots in dictatorship, and how do such parties affect the consolidation of democracy?
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
A country's political regime, regardless of its level of development, affects its social performance. Fewer children die in democracies than in dictatorships.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
The Afghan republic’s destruction was sewn into its founding. The international community’s missteps are more responsible for its failure than the country’s supposedly endemic corruption.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Having drawn lessons from the downfall of some of his fellow autocrats, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is preventing the emergence of an effective democratic movement in Belarus.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
The effects of electoral systems and of federalism are usually examined separately, but a review of the leading federations shows that it is essential to consider the interaction between the two in designing democratic institutions.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
Liberty flourished in Hong Kong, but the Chinese Communist Party has crushed it. Beijing wants “capitalism without freedom” in the city, but can there be one without the other?
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
Excerpts from: Akbar Gangi’s acceptance speech of the Golden Pen Award; a speech by Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo; the “Manifesto for a European Democracy Foundation”; the “2006 Declaration on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam.”
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
A new look at the World Values Survey data reveals how the Muslim world’s religious context affects individual Muslims’ attitudes toward democracy.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
In order for a country to move beyond mere electoral democracy, ordinary people must acquire resources and values that allow them to pressure elites. Human empowerment is essential for the development of "effective democracy."
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
After Mao, Deng Xiaoping tried to institutionalize collective leadership, but this did not stop Xi Jinping from grasping all the levers of power.
Turkey’s president would rather turn his country into a full autocracy than give up power. But the Turkish people are clinging to what remains of their democracy, and they are ready to fight for it.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
A Ukrainian human-rights lawyer on moral responsibility during war; Nilofar Shidmehr’s poem “Say Her Name: Mahsa Jina Amini”; a Cuban prodemocracy activist vows to never give up; Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Belarus’s sham election; a Zimbabwean journalist turns himself in to police; the frontlines of the protests in Georgia; and an open letter to Xi Jinping.
