January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
The Three Faces of the Indian State
India’s Constitution has long seemed stable, but the rise of an ethnic, absolute, and opaque state is changing the constitutional order in momentous and disturbing ways.
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October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Post-Coup Politics in the Gambia
The Gambia provides a lesson in how authoritarians can hold votes yet rob their people of the power that the ballot box is supposed to give them.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
China at the Tipping Point? The Turn Against Legal Reform
Over the past decade, Chinese authorities have turned against many of the legal reforms they themselves had enacted in the late 20th century. Lawyers have come under increased pressure. Political campaigns warning against rule-of-law norms have rippled through the courts. And central authorities have massively increased funding for extralegal institutions aimed at curtailing and suppressing…
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
The Signs of Deconsolidation
Political scientists have long assumed that “democratic consolidation” is a one-way street, but survey evidence of declining support for democracy from across the established democracies suggests that deconsolidation is a genuine danger.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Polarization versus Democracy
Why do ordinary people vote to return to office undemocratic incumbents? New survey experiments in several countries suggest that many voters are willing to put their partisan interests above democratic principles—a finding that may be key to understanding democratic backsliding.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a joint statement to the Kyrgyz nation issued by the presidents of Georgia and Ukraine; the Madrid Agenda; a letter issued by five hundred Chinese human rights and democracy activists; the third UN Development Programme Arab Human Development Report; a secret audio audio message recorded by Thich Quang Do, deputy leader of the…
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
The Undemocratic Dilemma
The ability of liberal democracies around the world to translate popular views into public policy has been declining. Yet there is no easy way to overcome this trend without weakening the capacity of governments to solve some of the most pressing challenges of the coming decades.
April 2023, Volume 34, Issue 2
Iraq’s Struggle for Democracy
Iraq today is more of a democracy than most people think, but still less of a democracy than it could be. While its future is uncertain, one thing is not: It will be determined by Iraqis.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
China Since Tiananmen: Authoritarian Impermanence
Like all contemporary nondemocratic systems, the Chinese system suffers from weak legitimacy at the level of regime type. The most likely form of transition for China remains the model of Tiananmen, when three elements came together: a robust plurality of disaffected citizens, a catalytic event, and a split in the leadership. Had China chosen the…
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
How to Compete in Unfair Elections
Opposition movements often boycott rigged polls rather than risk legitimizing an autocrat. It is usually a mistake. Here is the playbook for how one opposition seized the advantage.
Why Dictators Are Making a Comeback
Authoritarians are evolving — becoming more unconstrained and repressive at home, and more destructive on the global stage. The following essays unpack the authoritarians’ toolkit, revealing their strategies for taking power and upending the liberal world order.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: newly elected Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s campaign manifesto; Newsweek Polska's interview with Boris Nemtsov; opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's statement of innocence issued after the Federal Court of Malaysia upheld his conviction and sentence; a statement issued by UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maina Kiai.
October 1997, Volume 8, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León’s state of the Union and the lower chamber president Porfirio Muñoz Ledo’s response; a communique of the June 1997 Summit of Eight; “The Homeland Belongs to Us All” by four Cuban human rights activists.
January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1
Galina Starovoitova (1946-1998)
On the evening of 20 November 1998, Galina Vasilievna Starovoitova was shot to death outside her St. Petersburg apartment. She was the sixth member of the Russian Duma to have been murdered since that body’s creation in 1993. Most observers agree that this was a political assassination. Starovoitova was a tireless, persistent voice for freedom,…
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Prime Minister Theresa May on the U.K. vote to leave the European Union; former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright on Václav Havel; joint statement by U.S. representatives Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.) and David Price (D-N.C.) on the threat of corruption.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Egyptian Youth’s Digital Dissent
The military-backed regime of President al-Sisi seems secure, but study of the Egyptian internet reveals that the regime has failed to win over the young.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
ASEAN’s “Black Swans”
Can regionalism help to redress the uneven spread and internal weaknesses of democracy in Southeast Asia? Unforeseen events in the region and positive political entrepreneurship may yet transform ASEAN into a force for democracy.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the inaugural address of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; a statement by Singaporean activist Chee Soon Juan, the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party; a resolution calling for the “International Condemnation of the Crimes of Communist Regimes.”
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Aspirations and Realities in Africa: Five Reflections
Three decades after sub-Saharan Africa joined the “third wave,” democracy’s ability to endure has been established in many countries, but its quality remains a grave concern.