2747 Results
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Read the full essay here. Of all of the national republics that emerged out of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has had the most profound difficulties in determining its national identity. What is the essence of being Russian, and where are the boundaries of the “Russian World”? There has never been a Russian…
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Read the full essay here. The regime in Moscow mixes key features of a capitalist economy with a political system wherein power is monopolized by a close-knit professional and age cohort whose members often have a background in the secret police. Instead of seeking to base its legitimacy on broad-based, transpersonal institutions with character and…
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Fernando Lugo’s victory in the 2008 presidential election ended 61 years of one-party rule in Paraguay. How did the Colorado Party lose power?
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Elections set the stage for the General’s exit after nearly a decade in power, yet Pakistan still faces deep-seated structural problems that cannot be remedied merely by a return to competitive electoral politics.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
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.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement provided a framework for peace and democracy in Northern Ireland. But it was a particular set of internal circumstances that allowed for the pact’s successful implementation.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Morocco is a country with a "defused" political game: Elections do not play their usual role in democracies of allowing citizens to choose among competing agendas for policy and governance.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Five years after the close of a horrifying civil war, Sierra Leone held the freest elections in its history. Voters turned out the party that had overseen the war's end, blaming it for having mishandled governance since then.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
The failure of the elections has been partly mitigated by the hope of judicial review of electoral malfeasance, the stabilizing ingenuity of ethno-regional power-sharing, and renewed national discussions of electoral reforms.
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Some skeptics have asked whether ordinary people possess an understanding of democracy that allows them to evaluate it as a form of government. Our research yields three generalizations about popular understanding of democracy.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Countries taking the initial steps from dictatorship toward electoral politics are especially prone to civil and international war. Yet states endowed with coherent institutions—such as a functioning bureaucracy and the elements needed to construct a sound legal system—have often been able to democratize peacefully and successfully. Consequently, whenever possible, efforts to promote democracy should try…
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
By most theoretical accounts, Indian democracy should not even exist. Yet, despite serious challenges, it shows signs of enduring and even deepening.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi succeeded Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister in 2003, many expected far-reaching change in Malaysia. So far, however, turnover at the top has not led to significant democratic progress.
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
If there is a common thread through Pakistan's checkered history, it is the army's perception of itself as the country's only viable institution. As the next parliamentary elections approach, what does the future hold for democratic hopes in Pakistan?
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
Much like other institutions in post-Soviet Russia, the intelligence and security services have yet to make a transition to real democratic control, and remain infused with the authoritarian tendencies of their Soviet predecessors.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
There was nothing inevitable about the unraveling of Soviet communism. The role played by individuals such as Aleksandr Yakovlev was crucial.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
Despite hopes that 2005 would see an end to hostilities between rebels and government forces, neither disarmament nor elections took place. How did this once-prosperous country end up on the verge of anarchy and disaster?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
A wide variety of electoral systems is used around the world, but in recent years the trend has been toward systems based upon greater proportionality.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
For decades, Japan and Taiwan elected their legislatures using the single nontransferable vote. Recently, however, both countries adopted new electoral systems. What explains this trend?
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
In the 15 years since the Journal of Democracy‘s inception, democracy has made extraordinary progress. But no challenge is greater than building democratic institutions in postconflict situations.
