2580 Results
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
The Chinese Communist Party is dreaming an authoritarian techno-dream that is a democrat’s nightmare: ever more fine-grained state control made possible by using AI networks to pry and spy everywhere. But human unpredictability remains a force the party-state cannot tame.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
Artificial intelligence and its effects on democracy are a matter of choice, not fate. The concerns are longer term than the recent spate of worry about “generative” AI would suggest. The democratic conversation about AI has hardly begun.
October 2025, Volume 36, Issue 4
Latin America remains haunted by the specter of “strongman” rule. Term limits have been a way of guarding against this threat, but aspiring autocrats have now found a new avenue to bypass this barrier to power: courts of law.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Populism is a mortal threat to liberal democracy, but it rarely hits the mark. The evidence shows that these would-be strongmen require an extraordinary set of circumstances to succeed, which is why they so rarely do.
July 2025, Volume 36, Issue 3
President Samia Suluhu Hassan came into office promising democratic reforms. Four years later, it is clear she is more of a performer than a reformer. Far from delivering on her promises to unwind Tanzania’s authoritarian machinery, she is relying on the repressive tools we know so well.
January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
Old-fashioned military coups and blatant election-day fraud are becoming mercifully rarer these days, but other, subtler forms of democratic regression are a growing problem that demands more attention.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Globalized authoritarian regimes are increasingly abusing Interpol’s notice system to go after political opponents based abroad. These regimes seek not only to punish their critics, but also to legitimate their own acts of repression.
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.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Reports on elections in Argentina, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cameroon, The Gambia, Guatemala, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, Zambia.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Reports on elections in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Mauritius, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Yugoslavia.
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
International spying and digital subversion used to be the province of governments. Now anyone who has the cash can order hi-tech snooping and surveillance. This is a threat to the future of freedom.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Reports on recent elections in Belarus, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti, Kosovo, Niger, Samoa, and Uganda.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Armenia, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Croatia, Djibouti, Georgia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Taiwan, and Thailand.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Reports on elections in Algeria, Armenia, Bahamas, Benin, Burkina Faso, Estonia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Timor-Leste.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
Reports on elections in Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Djibouti, Jamaica, Latvia, Lesotho, Mongolia, Niger, Paraguay, Senegal, the Solomon Islands, Yemen.
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
Excerpts from: remarks and homily of Pope John Paul II given during his visit to Cuba; South Korean president Kim Dae Jung’s inaugural address.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
AI with superhuman abilities could emerge within the next few years, and there is currently no guarantee that we will be able to control them. We must act now to protect democracy, human rights, and our very existence.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Excerpts from: portions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's closing statement at his fraud trial on 10 November 2010; the Casablanca Call for Democracy and Human Rights; an open letter written by two dozen former officials of the People’s Republic of China Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; a UN resolution establishing the special rapporteur on freedom…
For twenty years, the Russian autocrat enjoyed a string of good fortune in coming to power and cementing his rule. He had raised Russia’s standing in the world. Then he invaded Ukraine. | Michael McFaul
