2444 Results
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Do democracy and good governance necessarily go hand-in-hand? In most Southeast Asian countries, a gap exists between the two. How should we understand good governance in an authoritarian context? And what does poor governance mean for the legitimacy of democracy?
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Read the full essay here. Turkish state policy toward the Kurds, the Republic of Turkey’s largest ethnic minority, has evolved from denial and mandatory assimilation to cultural recognition to acknowledgment of the Kurds’ contested status as a political problem demanding political solutions. The election of 36 Kurdish-nationalist lawmakers, most of whom now sit in parliament…
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
In China, the Internet is not merely contested space between citizen and government. It is also a catalyst for social and political transformation, offering the possibility of better governance with greater citizen participation.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Although many Iraqi parties continue to be organized along religious or ethnic lines, both the tone and the results of the 2010 parliamentary election campaign show that most Iraqi voters prefer a broader national agenda over narrow sectarian appeals.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
A Central American military once again returned to the political center stage in 2009, but this had less to do with power-hungry generals than with warring civilian elites whose respect for liberal-democratic principles proved to be questionable at best.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
Since 1996, eight postcommunist authoritarian rulers have been ousted by “electoral revolutions.” Why have these not succeeded in other postcommunist countries?
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Although 2008 was marked by democratic setbacks as well as authoritarian “pushback” against reformers, democracy remains the only system of government that commands global respect.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Authoritarian weakness alone cannot explain why the mobilization process during the color revolutions assumed similar forms across varied contexts.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Change may be caused more by the frailty of the regime than the strength of the opposition, but in such cases the outcome is often less democratic.
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.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Since its founding out of the partition of British India in 1947, Pakistan has labored in the shadow of critical choices made at that time.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Read the full essay here. Political Islam is often cited as the key challenge to democratization in Muslim nations, but deep currents of authoritarianism may prove more of an obstacle. Traditions of monarchy, military rule, and weak civic institutions block the path of democratic transition throughout the Muslim world. Political Islam does of course present…
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The May 2005 presidential election capped a process of conservative reentrenchment, but with a surprising populist twist.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
From hurricanes to ethnic and political tensions, the past decade has not been easy for the countries of the Caribbean Community. What does the future hold for these small democracies?
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
The 2004 elections saw the defeat of the former communists who ruled Romania for most of the period since the fall of communism. Will the country's new, democratic, and pro-European government be able to break with the semi-authoritarian habits of its postcommunist predecessors?
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.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Why has the European Union, which has been so successful in transforming its candidate countries, failed in its efforts to promote democracy and development in Bosnia and Kosovo?
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Slobodan Milošević fell in the fall of 2000 after he tried to pervert national election results. He had tampered with elections before and survived. What made 2000 different, and what are the lessons to be learned from it?
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Vladimir Putin aspires to be a classic authoritarian modernizer, but in today's globalized world Russia faces challenges that bureaucratic centralization and a traditional strong hand cannot meet.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Historical and other evidence from around the world suggests that Protestantism has helped to create a web of mediating factors—from higher literacy to lower corruption to active civic groups—that encourage self-government.
