July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11: Defending the Discipline
Is the field of Middle East studies as badly flawed as some critics charge? A fair-minded look at the last 10 or 15 years of research suggests otherwise.
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July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11: Islamists and the Politics of Consensus
Middle Eastern autocracies rely ever more on repression of both their Islamist and secular critics, and therefore increasingly fear that any opening will be uncontrollable. Is there a way out?
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Africa: The Limits of Power-Sharing
Often recommended as a means of ending intractable civil wars, power-sharing may in fact be least likely to work when it is most needed.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Clans, Pacts, and Politics in Central Asia
This region’s five republics have just lived through a remarkable first decade of independence that raises questions about “preconditions”-based theories of democratization.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
A New Look at Federalism: The Import of Institutions
A new research project suggests that federalism enhances the ability of regimes to accommodate territorially based minorities. Federal systems, except when imposed by an outside power, significantly help to preserve the peace.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
South Asia Faces the Future: Back and Forth in Bangladesh
Recent parliamentary elections showed the continuing strengths and weaknesses of Bangladeshi democracy. Although the country does have strong political parties and a decade of democratic elections, the intense antipathy between government and opposition will continue to cause problems well into the future.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Hong Kong: The Perils of Semidemocracy
Hong Kong has experienced a smooth transition from British to Chinese rule, but signs of political, economic, and social malaise mean that further steps toward fuller democracy are needed.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: The Impact of Nationalism
To grasp what is happening in the former USSR, we must examine the types of nationalism that flourish there.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: The Advantages of Radical Reform
The failures of post-Soviet reform notwithstanding, serious strides have been made toward economic and political transformation.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: A Mixed Record, An Uncertain Future
Despite huge changes, the events of the last ten years raise doubts about the notion of “democratic transition” itself.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Whatever Happened to “Asian Values”?
In the wake of the East Asian economic crisis of 1997-98, how has the appeal to “Asian Values” fared as a rhetorical prop for undemocratic rule?
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Francophone Africa in Flux: Niger Gets Back on Track
After a failed democratic experiment in 1993-96 and two military coups, Niger successfully held free and fair elections in 1999. The next couple of years will be crucial to the long-term survival of democracy.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Women and Democracy: Cultural Obstacles to Equal Representation
A country’s level of female political representation cannot be explained solely in terms of socioeconomic factors and political institutions. The evidence shows that political culture also matters.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Mexico’s Victory: Exiting the Labyrinth
The beauty of Mexico’s transition to democracy lay in the way it evolved gradually and peacefully over the course of a decade.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? A Comparativist’s Perspective
The uneasy accommodation of competing visions of authority that has characterized Iran’s political system since 1979 is a familiar phenomenon in the Middle East and elsewhere.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? The Role of the Intellectuals
The “Fourth Generation” of Iranian intellectuals has a vital role to play in strengthening civil society and fostering democratization.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: Can Electoral Autocracy Survive?
Vladimir Putin soon must make a fundamental choice: whether to hold on to monolithic power or to adopt a reformist course that could leave him at the center of a battle without any guarantee of success.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: Reintegrating “Post-Soviet Space”
The debate over Russia’s likely course of development under Putin has paid surprisingly little attention to his openly stated goal of reintegrating Russia with other former Soviet republics.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Promoting Democracy: The Mandela-Mbeki Doctrine
The promotion of democracy in Africa has become the dominant theme of South Africa’s foreign policy. Yet the dilemmas this policy has confronted in practice have forced the government to alter its approach.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Women in East European Parliaments
A major question in the consolidation of Eastern Europe’s new democracies is whether women will participate fully in the political process. One key indicator is the representation of women in the region’s parliaments.