January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Disinformation Disorientation
A review of This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev.
3266 Results
is méxico at the gates of authoritarianism pdf
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Modernization and Authoritarianism
Embracing a new model of capitalist authoritarianism, a number of nondemocratic regimes have made startling gains in state capacity, posing a new challenge to the appeal and advance of liberal democracy.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: “Tunisia 2004: Manifesto of Progressive Tunisian Democrats”; the Declaration of Quebec City from the third Summit of the Americas meeting; Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda’s address at the 57th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
The Case for Democratic Persistence
A review of Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom by Condoleezza Rice.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Guillermo O’Donnell (1936–2011)
Tributes to the eminent political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell, who passed away on 29 October 2011, written by O'Donnell's former coauthor Philippe C. Schmitter and by Scott Mainwaring of the Kellogg Institute, which O'Donnell helped to found.
The Top Ten Most-Read Essays of 2021
In 2021, democracy’s fortunes were tested, and a tumultuous world became even more turbulent. Democratic setbacks arose in places as far flung as Burma, El Salvador, Tunisia, and Sudan, and a 20-year experiment in Afghanistan collapsed in days. The world’s democracies were beset by rising polarization, and people watched in shock as an insurrection took…
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
Authoritarian Vestiges in Democratic Regimes
Democracies rarely begin with a blank slate. Relics of authoritarian rule typically persist after democratic transitions, and these vestiges are not always harmful to people’s newfound freedom.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
Divining Syria’s Future
Everything we know about getting and keeping democracy suggests we should be, at best, cautious about the prospects for Syria’s democratic future. But, as this collection of essays suggests, there are reasons for hope.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
The Authoritarian Roots of India’s Democracy
To say that Indian democracy is backsliding misunderstands the country’s history and the challenges it faces: A certain authoritarianism is embedded in India’s constitution and political structures.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
Revealing China’s “Hidden Hand”
A review of Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World, by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the concession speech of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda; the inauguration speech of Zambian president Michael Sata; the “Russia Development Index 2010–2011” report.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Stealing Russia Blind
A review of Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha.
January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: remarks given by Iranian historian Ladan Boroumand at the opening of the Eighth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy; a speech given by Venezuelan opposition leader Jesús Torrealba; remarks given by Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza as as he accepted on behalf of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov a posthumous freedom award.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
African Elections: Two Divergent Trends
Regular elections have become a fixture of political life throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but there are now “two Africas” in this regard: one where elections bring the blessings of greater political openness and competition, and another where elections are, in effect, one more tool that authoritarians use to retain power.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Reading Russia: Forms Without Substance
Read the full essay here. Twenty years ago, there was a more thoroughgoing political pluralism in Russia than there is today. In some respects, the forms of democracy-including party consolidation-have been enhanced, but they have been so manipulated as to deprive them of substance. Either “electoral authoritarianism” of “multiparty authoritarianism” (Juan Linz’s terms) may reasonably…
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: Overstepping Down Under
Australia has been an early target of China’s efforts to buy influence and suppress critical voices, but it has begun mounting a serious defense.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
The Authoritarian Argument
Authoritarian regimes are not lawless. Rather, autocrats take to the courtroom not only to enforce their will but to justify their rule. So how do they appeal to reason? How do they rationalize their undemocratic turn?
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: The Russia Factor
The regime of Vladimir Putin has been a key driver of the crisis in Ukraine. Under challenge at home for several years now, it turned to Ukraine in part to firm up its own grip on power in Russia.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a speech by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian; a letter by Bernard-Henri Lévy, Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, Elfriede Jelinek, and Orhan Pamuk; tributes to Lyudmila Alexeyeva; and the Parliamentary Call for Global Democratic Renewal.
January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the forward of the final report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Chairperson Archbishop Desmond Tutu; a letter to the Vietnamese National Assembly deploring corruption in the Community Party by four Party veterans; an address on democratization in Burma by Kyaw Kyaw of the Thailand-based All Burma Student’s Democratic Front; former…