July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: Slovakia’s Conflicting Camps
The political turmoil following a journalist’s murder in Slovakia has revealed serious dangers to the country’s democratic institutions.
1720 Results
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July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: “Soft Decisionism” in Bulgaria
Bulgaria continues to enjoy free and fair elections, but over the last decade its politics has come to be dominated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who practices a brand of discretionary rule that puts his own priorities above any commitment to legal or constitutional norms.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Iran’s 2017 Election: The Opposition Inches Forward
Despite all its flaws, Iran’s May 2017 presidential balloting amounted to another small but genuine advance for the cause of democracy.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
The Kremlin Emboldened: How Putin Wins Support
Read the full essay here. The Kremlin’s ability to maintain power and popularity despite an aging leader, an ailing economy, a rallying opposition, and many other domestic and international challenges is puzzling given current theories of authoritarianism. These theories focus on some combination of material interests, institutional engineering, and the charisma and skill of the…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Troublesome Security State
Read the full essay here. Seven decades after gaining its independence from the British Empire, India retains all the hallmarks of a functioning democracy: It holds reasonably free and fair elections, has a mostly independent judiciary plus a largely free press, and enjoys a robust and growing civil society. Yet thanks to India’s colonial inheritance…
October 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4
Tunisia: Ennahda’s New Course
Tunisia is a small country, but its influential Islamist party has taken a big step by separating its political wing from its religious activities.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
China After the Reform Era
The post–post-Mao era has now begun. The reforms that brought economic growth and greater openness to China are being unwound, while an assertive new leader strikes off in a populist and nationalist direction.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
The Authoritarian Resurgence: Saudi Arabia’s Anxious Autocrats
Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth sustains the antidemocratic policies that a nervous royal regime uses to defend against the threats and problems that confront it.
April 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2
Shifting Tides in South Asia: Bhutan’s Deferential Democracy
An opposition victory in this Himalayan kingdom’s second elections in 2013 showed that surprises are possible even in a democratic transition that has been guided from above by the monarchy.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
China at the Tipping Point? The Rising Cost of Stability
Although the Chinese Communist Party has tried to institutionalize the political system in the reform era, such efforts have been hampered by the Maoist legacy. To cope with challenges from the society, the CCP mainly relies on a highly centralized and resource-intensive weiwen system, and shows little respect for institutional differentiation and formal procedures.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
China at the Tipping Point? The Troubled Periphery
The response of the Chinese state (and of Chinese society at large) to the problems of the country’s periphery—Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, as well as hundreds of counties, prefectures, and townships in Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and other areas—is piling more tension and misery upon the populations there, but it is not undermining state power.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
The Ethnocracy Trap
A political system in which power is formally divided among ethnic or sectarian groups may seem like a good idea in conflict-ridden societies, but it bears a high price and makes true democratic transition harder to achieve.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2011: The Year of the Arab Uprisings
Although in 2011 declines in freedom exceeded gains for the sixth straight year, the uprisings in the Arab world represent the most significant challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Transitions to the Rule of Law
While we have witnessed many transitions to multiparty systems, it has proven much harder for countries to attain a genuine rule of law. We need to know more about the origins of the rule of law in order to promote it successfully today.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Kosovo: Independence and Tutelage
In February 2008, Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its independence. But to what extent is it making progress toward its goals of sovereignty and democracy?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
The Orange Revolution and Beyond
Ukraine gained independence in 1991, but its people gained their freedom only in 2004 with the Orange Revolution—an uprising of the human spirit in which Ukrainians joined together to gain a voice in their future.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Politics, Markets, and Society in Lula’s Brazil
Brazil under Lula offers a test case of how politicians and societal interests in developing countries react when economic growth and new possibilities change the name of the game from shock and scarcity to boom and prosperity.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
The Challenge of Closely Fought Elections
Closely fought elections are often fraught with conflict, splitting societies asunder. How can democracy survive such rough and close contests?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
Electoral Systems Today: The Curious Case of Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s electoral system is both unusual and unsuited to the country’s political circumstances. How was it chosen and what are its effects on the country’s politics?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
What Really Happened in Kyrgyzstan?
The March 2005 “Tulip Revolution” that toppled President Askar Akeyev is often grouped with the “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, but in many ways the Kyrgyz case was unique.