345 Results
michael bay
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Political Corruption: Historical Conflict and the Rise of Standards
Read the full essay here.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Will China Democratize? Confronting a Classic Dilemma
Read the full essay here.
Michael Ignatieff on the Democracy Paradox Podcast
Host Justin Kempf interviews Michael Ignatieff, author of “The Politics of Enemies,” on the contentious nature of democratic politics—and what happens when the tension grows too great.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Reconstructing Afghanistan
A review of Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban by Larry P. Goodson; and Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: A Mixed Record, An Uncertain Future
Despite huge changes, the events of the last ten years raise doubts about the notion of “democratic transition” itself.
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Democracy & Foreign Policy
A review of Exporting Democracy: Fulfilling America’s Destiny, by Joshua Muravchik and Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin America, edited by Abraham F. Lowenthal.
Turkey’s Make-or-Break Election
The forces that brought Erdoğan to power may be his downfall in Turkey’s May 14 elections. Here are a selection of key Journal of Democracy essays from the last two decades of his rule.

Erdoğan’s Latest Autocratic Crackdown
On March 19, Turkish authorities arrested opposition leader and Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on charges of corruption. Really, it was a drive by President Erdoğan to eliminate his main political rival. The following Journal of Democracy essays chronicle Erdoğan’s increasing efforts to undermine Turkish democracy, and the opposition’s efforts to fight back.

Inside Turkey’s Democratic Crisis
Turkish democracy is at a turning point: Will democratic forces be able to triumph at the ballot box in the next general election, or will the country devolve into full-blown authoritarianism?
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
New Threats to Freedom: The Assault on Democracy Assistance
Authoritarians are stepping up their offensive against democracy promotion, and democracy-assistance organizations will have to meet the challenge.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
The Democracy Barometers (Part I): Formal versus Informal Institutions in Africa
Survey data indicate that Africans support democracy and its formal institutions, but also point to the importance of the informal realm, particularly when formal institutions fail to meet popular expectations.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Russia Under Putin: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Does the election of Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president represent a fundamental turn away from democracy or merely a temporary setback? Although Putin’s apparent indifference to democracy is worrisome, it would be premature to conclude that democracy is lost in Russia.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
The Post-Soviet Puzzle
A review of Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin, by Michael McFaul.
April 1999, Volume 10, Issue 2
Regime Change in Africa
Review of Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective, by Michael Bratton and Nicolas Van de Walle

January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
China’s Threat to Global Democracy
The Chinese Communist Party is deadly serious about its authoritarian designs, and it is bent on promoting them. It is time for the world’s democracies to get serious, too.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Strengthening Constitutionalism in Asia
Liberal democracy can never put down truly firm roots in Asia unless and until the fundamentals of democratic constitutionalism take hold. There are seven practical imperatives that friends of constitutionalism in the region must pursue.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Latin America: A Surge to the Center
The left-right ideological divide has begun to narrow in Latin America as citizens and leaders increasingly choose a pragmatic approach to politics and embrace the rules of the democratic game.