July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Argentina, Armenia, Belize, Benin, El Salvador, Montenegro, Nigeria, Paraguay, and Yemen.
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October 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Croatia, Gabon, Mongolia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and Zambia.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Algeria, Armenia, the Bahamas, Bulgaria, the Gambia, Iran, Kosovo, Lesotho, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Serbia, South Korea, and Timor-Leste.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Is Democracy Possible?
While the belief in democracy has spread around the world, it has begun to crumble in some of the West’s finest academic institutions.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Indonesia’s High-Stakes Handover
Indonesians have just elected a former general accused of human-rights abuses, with little respect for democratic institutions. The country’s democracy has not failed, but it may soon be fighting for its life.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
Why Freedom Defeats Terrorism
Far from being a vulnerability in the struggle against terrorism, democratic freedoms are key to empowering moderate voices and depriving terrorists of popular support.
October 2020, Volume 31, Issue 4
China’s Message Machine
The People’s Republic of China uses massive amounts of propaganda to influence how it is perceived beyond its borders. “Big data” reveal how that image is carefully and deliberately shaped for different audiences in different places.
January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
Why Is Democracy Performing So Poorly?
The failure to establish modern, well-governed states has been the Achilles heel of recent democratic transitions, as democratization without state modernization can actually lower the quality of governance.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2010: Democracy Under Duress
The past decade began at a high point for freedom but ended with freedom in peril. Yet the setbacks of the last five years do not outweigh the democratic gains of the last forty.
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
China Since Tiananmen: A New Rights Consciousness?
Read the full essay here. Despite the suppression of the Tiananmen Uprising of 1989, popular protest in China has by all accounts escalated steadily over the ensuing two decades. These protests have spread to virtually every sector of Chinese society, prompting more than a few observers to proclaim the emergence of a “rising rights consciousness”…
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
The Future of South Africa’s Party System
The ruling African National Congress has been an overwhelming presence in the politics of post-apartheid South Africa. The country's dominant-party system, despite its dangers, may be the strongest buttress for democracy.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change; the preamble of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation; the Taipei Declaration on Democracy in Asia.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Latin American Presidencies Interrupted
Over the last two decades, Latin America has seen more than a dozen presidencies come to a premature end. It is time to consider changing constitutional designs that promote conflict rather than more consensual ways of doing politics.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
China and East Asian Democracy: The Coming Wave
If there is going to be a great advance of democracy in this decade, it is most likely going to emanate from East Asia.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: Forging a New “Eastern Bloc”
Through its “16+1” initiative, China is building relationships with postcommunist Europe that could threaten to undermine the European Union.
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Impact of Instant Universal Suffrage
Read the full essay here. When the authors of India’s Constitution took the extraordinarily bold step of establishing universal suffrage, thus giving the right to vote to all adult citizens, India became the world’s first large democracy to adopt universal adult suffrage from its very inception. We call India’s move “instant universal suffrage,” and distinguish…
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
Ghana: The Ebbing Power of Incumbency
Despite pre-election fears, the victory of the opposition NPP over the ruling NDC in Ghana’s December 2016 elections became the prologue to a peaceful transfer of power. This outcome suggests that the advantage of incumbency in African elections may be on the wane.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? The Sources of Extremism
The EU is experiencing a somewhat paradoxical phenomenon: On the one hand, it has been a tremendously successful club, promoting democracy and open societies within its borders and in its neighborhoods. On the other hand, the language of national rivalry and of class struggle is re-entering public discourse, especially within the eurozone.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy: Why Democracies Fail
Many of today’s developing-world and postcommunist democracies are at risk of reversal. What are the key factors that lead to democratic collapse?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Latin America: Eight Lessons for Governance
Latin America’s recent experience shows that effective democratic governance is difficult to achieve and depends on many factors, some of them context-specific. Nonetheless, it is possible to draw some general lessons.