What’s the Road to Democracy After Illiberalism?
In the July issue of the Journal of Democracy, Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley unpack the trilemma that post-illiberal leaders face and explain why illiberals stand to benefit.
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How Authoritarians Weaponize the Law
Authoritarians can manipulate the law to rationalize their rule, but the law can equally serve to check authoritarian power. The Journal of Democracy essays below explore the dynamics between leaders and the law. Read for free now.
What It Takes to Win the New Cold War with China
Our struggle against the Soviet Union offers vital lessons for how to confront the aggressive totalitarian threat that Beijing now represents. | Carl Gershman
Three Essays on the Power of Women
To mark International Women’s Day, the Journal of Democracy looks at how women are shaping the fight for freedom.
Three Must Reads from the October Issue!
How can liberal democrats take advantage of nationalism’s enduring appeal? How can Western democracies reduce rising political violence? And how can they protect freedom of expression while also preventing the harms such freedom might cause? The following essays from our new issue provide key answers to these important questions.
Democracy’s Frontline Defenders
Across the globe, the people who run our elections are being undermined, targeted, and attacked. Here is how to shore them up—and protect democratic institutions, too.
Maduro Can Only Rule Through Fear and Terror
The Venezuelan strongman lost the election and everyone knows it. He has nothing left to offer but violence and repression. It will be his undoing.
A Shock to Guatemala’s System
Almost no one thought that an underdog political reformer could defeat Guatemala’s corrupt political machine, but Bernardo Arévalo did just that. Now comes the hard part.
Why Iran Is Entering a Dangerous Moment
The country’s recent elections revealed deep fissures in Iranian society and there is already growing disillusionment with the new president. With mounting economic worries, Iran is in a volatile state.
Botswana’s Misunderstood “Miracle”
The country’s 2024 presidential contest was a big surprise, as voters elected a new party for the first time. Despite decades of dominant-party rule, a strong democratic culture has long been ingrained in Botswana.
The Curse of the Ex-Presidents
Across Latin America, former leaders are keeping a chokehold on their countries’ politics. It’s time their successors break free.
The Empty Promise of Iran’s New President
Masoud Pezeshkian won’t be a “reformer” in any genuine sense. Like all Iranian presidents, he has pledged his loyalty to Iran’s supreme leader. What he really offers is a softer version of Iran’s grim repression.
Will the German Center Hold?
Although Germans flooded the polls, the country is deeply polarized and politically fragmented. Germany’s centrists need to deliver on voters’ concerns. If they don’t, the far-right AfD is waiting in the wings.
The Top 10 Most-Read Journal of Democracy Essays of 2022
The Journal of Democracy has analyzed democracy’s fortunes across the globe, from Ukraine to Afghanistan and the Philippines, from Hungary to Tunisia. Here are our top-ten most-read essays from 2022.
What Mattered to You in 2023
The ten most-read online exclusives this year focused on the Russia-Ukraine war as well as events in China, Iran, Western Europe, and Latin America.
Global Freedom Is in Decline, But What About Democracy?
Democracy is more resilient than many people realize, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t worrying signs on the horizon.
6 More Days to Read the July Issue for Free
The latest issue of the Journal of Democracy covers important and alarming global trends, including political polarization and rising illiberalism, as well the struggle between autocrats and democrats in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and beyond. Read it before it goes behind a paywall.
Is the “Third Wave” Obsolete?
In the 1991 classic, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Samuel P. Huntington offered a new way of understanding democracy’s global trajectory. Amid rising global populism and increasingly aggressive authoritarian leaders, has Huntington’s framework outlived its usefulness?