2412 Results
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
What makes elected leaders step down at the appointed hour, and what do they have to look forward to once their terms end? A look at the political afterlives of world leaders tells us that the future prospects of presidents and premiers may well affect their behavior while in office.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Since their transitions, the democracies of the “third wave” have followed a range of trajectories beyond simple survival or breakdown. Many have stagnated at low levels of democracy and some have suffered democratic erosion, but there also have been cases of democratic deepening against the odds.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
The swelling pessimism about democracy’s future is unwarranted. Values focused on human freedom are spreading throughout the world, and suggest that the future of self-government is actually quite bright.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
While analysts of populism have focused on economic woes and “cultural backlash,” a thirst for the restoration of order may better explain the appeal of authoritarian populists in fragile democracies where governance is falling short.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Excerpts from: imprisoned Chinese dissident Wang Dan’s first press conference; the Declaration of Santiago; “Strategic Initiatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Fundamentals for a New Beginning”; speeches on “Human Rights and Asian Values” given at the 54th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights; a postelection statement by Martin Lee, leader of the…
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?
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.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Excerpts from remarks presented by newly elected Chilean president Sebastián Piñera upon signing a set of proposed laws for the strengthening of democracy to be submitted to the Congress.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
A country's political regime, regardless of its level of development, affects its social performance. Fewer children die in democracies than in dictatorships.
April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2
Excerpts from: speeches delivered at the signing of the El Salvador peace agreement; an Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict; Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s address to the UN Security Council.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
Due to weak opposition parties and presidential dominance, many African countries have not reaped the full benefits of regularly held elections.
Iranians are protesting their regime. Why it will only get worse for the mullahs. | By Peyman Asadzade
Russian rockets are targeting Ukrainian journalists’ ability to report the news, but the country’s media is finding new ways to stay on the air. 9 March 2022 By Marta Dyczok As I sat writing this article, the people I was writing about, many of whom are my friends, were being attacked by Russian military forces.…
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Excerpts from: Kenyan president-elect Emilio Mwai Kibaki’s inaugural speech; statement by the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy condemning the crackdown on Cuban dissidents; Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general César Gaviria’s speech at a conference entitled “Financing Democracy: Political Parties, Campaigns and Elections.”
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
This sparsely populated, landlocked country sandwiched between much larger authoritarian neighbors has nonetheless managed to maintain a fairly robust democracy. The secret lies in its energetic civil society.
This is the darkest moment for freedom in half a century. Whether democracy regains its footing will depend on how democratic leaders and citizens respond to emboldened authoritarians and the fissures within their own societies.
April 2010, Volume 21, Issue 2
The 2009 electoral victories of Indonesia’s incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his party reveal a growing sophistication among the electorate and a robust presidency, but also a dangerously weak, highly personalistic party system.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
If democracies did a better job “delivering” for their citizens, so the thinking goes, people would not be so ready to embrace antidemocratic alternatives. Not so. This conventional wisdom about democratic backsliding is seldom true and often not accurate at all.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
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.
