October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
India’s 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
Democracy in India remains robust, but the scope and intensity of the corruption that pervades the political system are steadily eroding public trust.
2929 Results
strategies in selecting and organizing information
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Montenegro: A Miracle in the Balkans?
Tiny Montenegro gained its independence in a referendum in May 2006. What forces lay behind its completely peaceful break from its much larger neighbor, Serbia?
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Kenya: Third Time Lucky?
After falling short in 1992 and 1997, Kenya’s large but fractious opposition coalition swept to victory at the polls in 2002. Transition has arrived, but can democratic transformation follow?
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
The Kurdish Question in Turkey
One of the greatest obstacles to democratic consolidation in Turkey has been the country's treatment of its Kurdish citizens. The root of the problem lies in the very nature of the Turkish state, which confuses unity with uniformity.
January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1
Parties and Accountability in the Philippines
Read the full essay here.
October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4
Soft Authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore
Read the full essay here.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
PR and Southern Africa: Elections in Agrarian Societies
Read the full essay here.
April 1993, Volume 4, Issue 2
The Morass in Moscow: Boris Yeltsin and Russia’s Four Crises
Read the full essay here.
April 2025, Volume 36, Issue 2
Rebuilding the State in Post-Assad Syria
Despite a brutal thirteen-year civil war, Syrians are not building from scratch. In fact, Syria has a long and rich history of state-building to guide them.
Why Sanctions Don’t Work Against Dictatorships
From Putin’s invasion to Kim’s nuclear saber rattling, the West has punished the world’s worst regimes. But have sanctions missed their targets?
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Two Traditions of Liberalism
A review of The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty: A View from Europe by João Carlos Espada.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Egyptian Youth’s Digital Dissent
The military-backed regime of President al-Sisi seems secure, but study of the Egyptian internet reveals that the regime has failed to win over the young.
January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
The Splintering of Postcommunist Europe
Institutional choices matter in the postcommunist world, but geopolitical and civilizational boundaries still set the horizons of political possibility.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
Chile: Are the Parties Over?
For the first time since the fall of Pinochet, the Chilean right has come to power via free elections. The long-ruling center-left coalition leaves behind many achievements, but also disturbing signs of a weakened party system.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Exchange: The Vain Hope for “Correct” Timing
The history of many of today’s established democracies shows that “out-of-sequence” democratization can lead to eventual success.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
The Mexican Standoff: Looking to the Future
Examining Mexico’s electoral rules, political institutions, and the ways in which they interact with one another can tell us much about how current difficulties developed and how they might be resolved.
October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4
Leopold Labedz (1920-1993)
A memorial service was held on June 15 in Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to Leopold Labedz, who died on March 22 in London. A founding member of the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy, Labedz served as editor of the British journal Survey from 1962 to 1989. Speakers at the service, who extolled Labedz’s lifelong…
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
The Democratic Instinct in the 21st Century
Democratization is never easy, smooth, or linear, but as Indonesia’s experience in building a multiparty and multiethnic democracy shows, it can succeed even under difficult and initially unpromising conditions.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
India’s Improbable Success
A review of India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha and The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India's Future by Martha C. Nussbaum.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Inside Iraq’s Confessional Politics
A review of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace by Ali A. Allawi.