July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
The East Asian Prospect: A “Recipe” for Democratic Development
Read the full essay here.
2529 Results
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has used its two-thirds majority in parliament to change the constitution, erase checks and balances, and make the electoral system even more majoritarian.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
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.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
The country’s opposition beat an authoritarian incumbent by unifying, organizing its supporters, and contesting every election no matter the odds. Can the strategy be applied elsewhere?
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Mass uprisings toppled dictators in both Sudan and Algeria in 2019, but only Sudan was able to secure a transition to democracy due to important differences in their protest movements, militaries, and the role of the international community.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
The outsized power of large internet platforms to amplify or silence certain voices poses a grave threat to democracy. Finding a reliable way to dilute that power offers the best possible solution.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
The historical record since 1945 gives us a picture of how populists operate once they hold political power. The record shows that populism is inimical to liberal democracy, and not a corrective to some of its failings.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
Confidence in all European institutions is at a record low. What explains this lack of trust, and how can it be restored? To begin with, the eurozone needs a workable long-term solution, and the EU as a whole must come to terms with the reality of a two-speed integration process.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
How did South Korea lift itself from destitution to affluence? And how was its ruthlessly authoritarian regime able to metamorphose into a stable democracy? Coopting the business and voluntary sectors to deliver welfare positioned the country to accomplish both.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
The central problems now blocking democracy in Georgia and other parts of the former USSR are: 1) the use of power in order to gain wealth; 2) the absence of the rule of law; and 3) the passivity of citizens.
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.
April 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
After enduring years of paternalism punctuated by trauma, Turkish voters have pointed their country in a new direction.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
When South Korea’s president declared martial law last December, he shocked the country and sparked a political crisis that laid bare deep-seated divisions. Can Korean democracy overcome the nationalist polarization that has always defined it?
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
A review of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler, by Peter Pomerantsev.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Beijing is bent on deploying mass surveillance to eliminate threats to its rule. It is terrifying—and the latest example of its determination to remold society.
Spring 1991, Volume 2, Issue 2
Excerpts from: the draft constitution of the Russian Republic; a letter from the mayor of Budapest, Hungary to the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania; the inaugural address Haitian president, Reverend Jean-Bertrand Astride.