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Authoritarians weaponize LGBT+ rights to undermine pluralism and cement their rule. Can democracy still protect and advance these rights? Read about how LGBT+ rights have been both expanded and resisted around the world, and offer ideas for how democracies can defend them.
This year of elections, just over halfway through, has been nothing short of dramatic, with shocks, upsets, protests, and political violence — most notably, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend. Democracy is being tested as increasingly polarized voters head to the polls. Will it succumb to division and distrust, or will it withstand its present trials?
Minxin Pei, a leading expert on Chinese authoritarianism, has been writing for the Journal of Democracy since 1992. Over three decades, the Claremont McKenna political scientist has chronicled China’s transformation into a global superpower and descent into neo-Stalinism. The following ten essays comprise some of Pei’s best.
Although Germans flooded the polls, the country is deeply polarized and politically fragmented. Germany’s centrists need to deliver on voters’ concerns. If they don’t, the far-right AfD is waiting in the wings.
The Russo-Ukrainian War represents an existential clash between democracy and autocracy. A Ukrainian loss, Serhii Plokhy argues in the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, could endanger democracy across the globe.
Romania is the latest example of rising far-right populism across Europe. The essays below examine the forces driving these illiberal political movements.
After years of increasingly authoritarian rule, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan was hailed as a democratic reformer. But as Dan Paget and Aikande Clement Kwayu write in the July issue of the JoD, the president is more performer than reformer, relying on theatrics to delay real reform while sharpening her tools of repression.
Sharp partisan divides and bitter social rivalries are increasingly spiraling into zero-sum conflicts. The antidote to such hatred and violence, argues one JoD author, is direct, face-to-face dialogue among neighbors and communities.
Tanzania’s Independence Day was Tuesday, barely a month since the shocking and brutal crackdown on thousands of protesters decrying the country’s sham election.
“As U.S. military assets accumulate in the Caribbean and diplomatic pressure on the Nicolás Maduro regime intensifies,” writes José Ramón Morales-Arilla in a new Journal of Democracy online exclusive, “two starkly different visions of Venezuela’s future dominate policy discussions.”
To mark International Women’s Day, the Journal of Democracy looks at how women are shaping the fight for freedom.
Reports on elections in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Kiribati, Sint Maarten, and Sri Lanka.
The ANC lost its majority for the first time, but populist forces were held at bay.
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.
Don’t miss your chance to read the Journal of Democracy’s July issue for free through the 31.
If you want to understand why generals support a presidential power grab, then you need to understand the logic that motivates them. Why they leave the barracks — and what we must do to get them to stand down.
After losing a confidence vote and triggering snap elections, can Olaf Scholz lead mainstream parties back to power, or will more radical forces prevail?
South Koreans have elected Lee Jae-myung president. Will he be a pragmatic democratic reformer? Or will he continue the polarizing political warfare of recent South Korean leaders?
Aspiring authoritarians share some common tactics for trying to dismantle a democracy. But recent cases also reveal lessons on how to defend against these attacks and slow the threat of democratic backsliding.
The government of Nepal has become the third South Asian government to collapse amid mass protests in three years. It will take more than elections to restore stability. Young protesters want to see real change.
