Putin Just Learned Why You Don’t Trust Mercenaries
The Russian autocrat forgot an age-old truth about working with common criminals and soldiers for hire.
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Election Results—April 2024
Reports on elections in Croatia, Kuwait, the Maldives, Senegal, Slovakia, the Solomon Islands, and South Korea.
Is Bitcoin Good for Democracy?
Bitcoin is an indispensable tool for political dissidents in the most repressive environments, argue Alex Gladstein and Félix Maradiaga in two recent Journal of Democracy online exclusives. When dictators weaponize the financial system and obstruct all avenues of dissent, digital currency helps activists keep their operations running.
South Korea’s Political Chaos
In December 2024, South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, shocking the world and plunging the country into political turmoil. As Joan Cho and Aram Hur argue in the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, the political chaos has revealed deep-seated divisions within South Korean society and politics.
What Is Competitive Authoritarianism?
Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s landmark 2002 essay clarified the shifting democratic landscape of the late twentieth century. Now, competitive authoritarianism more than anything else explains the state of global democracy today.
Can Bolivia Ever Escape the Coup Trap?
The South American country was once the most coup-prone in the world. Many thought it had closed that chapter. So why did it just suffer another attempted coup?
Why NATO Is More Than Democracy’s Best Defense
On its 75th anniversary, the Atlantic Alliance should be celebrated for being more than the world’s greatest military compact. It’s an engine of democracy’s advance.
How Qatar Became a World Leader in Sportswashing
The government has spent billions preparing to host the 2022 World Cup. Never mind the abusive labor practices and human rights violations. It’s betting that your love of the “beautiful game” will make you more fond of this tiny Gulf state, too.
Ukraine Can’t Hold Elections During the War. Does It Matter?
Russia’s brutal ongoing invasion is preventing Ukrainians from holding a presidential election and the campaigning that comes with it. What does that mean for Ukraine’s democracy?
Why the European Elections Will Test Democracy
The danger is greater than the rise of far-right parties. In fact, there is a risk that in their eagerness to contain the far right, European leaders may do greater damage to democracy itself.
Hope and Fear in Syria
The brutal regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad fell in a week. Syrians have been preparing for this moment for years.
Why Georgians Won’t Give Up
Even as the ruling party has grown more repressive, the people have swarmed the streets in protest — every day. The protesters know the government’s true goal is to appease Russia, and Georgians will never accept it.
Venezuela’s Lost Year
A year ago Nicolás Maduro stole Venezuela’s election and entrenched his power by jailing and killing those who opposed him. But the world’s democracies don’t need to sit on the sidelines. Here is how they can raise the costs for Maduro.
Election Results—May and June 2024
Reports on elections in Chad, the Dominican Republic, Iceland, India, Iran, Lithuania, Mexico, North Macedonia, Panama, South Africa, and Togo.
How Tragedy Sparked a Protest Movement
Serbs from all walks of life have had enough with their corrupt, inept, and increasingly authoritarian government. Will Serbia’s president be able to withstand the crisis?
Larry Diamond’s Greatest Hits
Larry Diamond, the leading scholar of democracy, helped to found the Journal of Democracy more than 32 years ago. “Democracy’s Arc: From Resurgent to Imperiled,” published on the eve of the war in Ukraine, was his final essay as our coeditor. But Larry penned numerous pieces for the Journal. Ten of these landmark essays are…
Drowning Democracy
Afghanistan taught us that a firehose of unaccountable aid can destroy a country’s democratic future. In Ukraine, we are making the same mistake all over again.
What Comes Now?
The biggest election in this “year of elections” is finally over. In contests across the world, voters have spoken. But what do their choices tell us about the state of democracy globally?
Can Democracy Survive AI?
As artificial intelligence continues to advance at breakneck speed and world powers vie against each other in the AI arms race, democracies are searching for ways to control a technology that is transforming our lives while threatening to break our democratic guardrails.
Why DeepSeek Is So Dangerous
DeepSeek’s new frontier AI model is the CCP’s most powerful tool yet for surveillance and control. The following Journal of Democracy essays show how authoritarian governments leverage emerging tech to enhance repression. Read free for a limited time.