January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Indonesia: The Benefits of Civic Engagement
Indonesia, a populous, poor, predominantly Muslim society, has been able to maintain democracy thanks to a vibrant associational life.
3163 Results
is méxico at the gates of authoritarianism pdf
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
The Third Wave’s Lessons for Democracy
When the “third wave” reached Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, it brought major advances for democracy. By the first decade of the current century, however, advances had given way to stasis and even erosion.
The Man Who Dared to Change the World
Mikhail Gorbachev risked everything. Neither Russia nor the West could live up to his vision. | By Lilia Shevtsova
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
The Legacies of 1989: Myths and Realities of Civil Society
The changes that civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe have experienced since communism’s fall are real, but often misunderstood.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
India’s Unlikely Democracy: Six Decades of Independence
By most theoretical accounts, Indian democracy should not even exist. Yet, despite serious challenges, it shows signs of enduring and even deepening.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Debating the Color Revolutions: A Reply to My Critics
The color revolutions illustrate both the prevalence of diffusion and the potential limits of its impact on political change.
10 Days Left to Read the October Issue for Free
Authoritarian aggression, democratic recession, political violence, nationalism, and far-right resurgence. The latest issue of the Journal of Democracy offers incisive analysis and cogent solutions to these troubling trends across the globe.
Why Philippine Politics Resembles a Modern-Day Telenovela
Want to distract the public? Little works better than family feuds ripped from soap opera plotlines. That’s how the Marcos and Duterte clans keep people glued to the drama while crowding out democratic reform.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: Are They Democrats? Does It Matter?
The journalistic and policy communities have been alive with speculation as to whether Islamist groups involved in politics—including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Palestine’s Hamas— are true believers in democracy or calculating pragmatists who, in Steven Cook’s words, are “seeking to use democratic procedures in order to advance an antidemocratic agenda.”
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Turkey Under the AKP: The Kurdish Question
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…
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
China Since Tiananmen: Middle-Class Mobilization
Read the full essay here. Some of the many China stories to attract attention recently have involved NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) protests by largely middle class crowds gathering to demand a greater say in urban development plans. This article argues that such protests a) are a significant addition to the already complex landscape of…
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: Retaining the Human Dimension
Democracy promotion is a cause-oriented mission, but a good deal of hard-headed realism goes into program planning and work.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Nepal: Between Dictatorship and Anarchy
Nepal’s people find themselves caught in an ugly struggle between two antidemocratic ideologies—royal absolutism and Maoism. What happened?
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
The Meanings of Democracy: Solving an Asian Puzzle
Over the years, the Asian Barometer Survey has yielded some surprising results. A new typological analysis helps to make sense of them.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Modi’s Undeclared Emergency
Since the beginning of the second Modi government, an emboldened BJP has launched a steady, comprehensive, and unprecedented attack on civil liberties, personal rights, and free speech across India.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
Kenya’s Electoral Misfire
Sophisticated technology could not keep Kenya’s August 2017 presidential election from leading to renewed ethnic tensions and a painful standoff from which the country appears only now to be emerging. What went wrong?
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental?
Democracy-aid providers are moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies and are adapting their programs to diverse political contexts. Two distinct overall approaches to assisting democracy have emerged in response.
January 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
Papua New Guinea: From Coup to Reconciliation
A 2011 power struggle spawned a crisis that marred Papua New Guinea’s unbroken record of democratic rule. Has the country found its way back?
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Still Bowling Alone? The Post-9/11 Split
The crisis of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has sparked a surge of increased civic engagement by young people in the United States, but there is also evidence of a growing divide along class lines.