January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
China and East Asian Democracy: The Coming Wave
If there is going to be a great advance of democracy in this decade, it is most likely going to emanate from East Asia.
2855 Results
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April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: Forging a New “Eastern Bloc”
Through its “16+1” initiative, China is building relationships with postcommunist Europe that could threaten to undermine the European Union.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Impact of Instant Universal Suffrage
Read the full essay here. When the authors of India’s Constitution took the extraordinarily bold step of establishing universal suffrage, thus giving the right to vote to all adult citizens, India became the world’s first large democracy to adopt universal adult suffrage from its very inception. We call India’s move “instant universal suffrage,” and distinguish…
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
Ghana: The Ebbing Power of Incumbency
Despite pre-election fears, the victory of the opposition NPP over the ruling NDC in Ghana’s December 2016 elections became the prologue to a peaceful transfer of power. This outcome suggests that the advantage of incumbency in African elections may be on the wane.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2014: A Return to the Iron Fist
In a year marked by escalating terrorism, the use of more brutal repression by authoritarian regimes, and Russia’s annexation of a neighboring country’s territory, the state of freedom worsened significantly in nearly every part of the world.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? The Sources of Extremism
The EU is experiencing a somewhat paradoxical phenomenon: On the one hand, it has been a tremendously successful club, promoting democracy and open societies within its borders and in its neighborhoods. On the other hand, the language of national rivalry and of class struggle is re-entering public discourse, especially within the eurozone.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Why Democracies Fail
Many of today’s developing-world and postcommunist democracies are at risk of reversal. What are the key factors that lead to democratic collapse?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Latin America: Eight Lessons for Governance
Latin America’s recent experience shows that effective democratic governance is difficult to achieve and depends on many factors, some of them context-specific. Nonetheless, it is possible to draw some general lessons.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
The Bangladesh Paradox
Despite impressive achievements in socioeconomic development, Bangladesh has struggled with establishing democracy and is now effectively under one-party rule.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
How Personalist Politics Is Changing Democracies
Once mostly found in authoritarian regimes, personalism is now putting established democracies in peril—a trend that digital technology will likely make worse.
July 2015, Volume 26, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural address; a speech given by Leon Wieseltier honoring the slain Russian opposition politician and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov; the conclusion of the report “Putin.War”; Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova's letter from prison.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Yulia Navalnaya’s speech after her husband’s death; Russian human-rights activist Oleg Orlov’s closing court statement; “Dictateur” by Senegalese hip-hop artist and social-justice activist Gunman Xuman; a speech from Mexico’s “March for Democracy”; a letter to Nicaraguans from the Group of 94; “120 Days in Secret Detention” by Chinese activist Li Qiaochu.
The Man Who Stood Up to Vladimir Putin
It is almost a year since the death of Alexei Navalny. The Russian opposition leader sought to channel Russian nationalism as a challenge to Putin’s autocracy. He gave everything in the fight.
October 1992, Volume 3, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: closing statements of a congress of diverse elements of the Iraqi opposition; a “Charter for American-Russian Partnership and Friendship”; Philippine president Fidel Ramos’s inaugural address; pastoral letter from the Roman Catholic Bishops of Malawi; the “Declaration of Caracas.”
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a letter from jailed Egyptian politician Ayman Nour; Timorese leader José Ramos Horta’s acceptance speech; the inaugural address of Chilean president Michele Bachelet; a summit declaration entitled “Promoting Peace, Human Rights and Democracy Worldwide.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
A final statement by Russian activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny; The North Atlantic Council’s communiqué on Ukraine; Legal analyst Ethan Hee-Seok’s testimony on North Korean asylum-seekers at the China–North Korea border; “Voices of a New Belarus” by playwright Andrei Kureichik; Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s victory speech.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Election Watch
Reports on recent elections in Belarus, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti, Kosovo, Niger, Samoa, and Uganda.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a speech delivered in North Korea by Mongolian president Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj; Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech honoring Václav Havel; the joint statement of governments participating in a meeting on the growth of restrictions on civil society globally; the charter of the newly formed Asia Democracy Network.