October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Iran’s Peculiar Election: A Historical Perspective
The June 2005 presidential ballot marks the culmination of the regime’s effort to dominate even the limited powers of the popularly elected offices.
2736 Results
why is trump a zionist after being elected
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
The Legacies of 1989: Bulgaria’s Year of Civic Anger
In 2013, Bulgaria’s historically passive citizenry exploded in outrage over soaring energy bills and shady elite actions. What does Bulgaria’s year of protest tell us about how civic anger is generated and when it becomes a transformative political resource?
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism
Why are the unfree regimes of the former Soviet world proving so durable? A lack of ideology and—perhaps surprisingly—a degree of openness are proving to be not so much problems for authoritarianism as bulwarks of it.
July 2011, Volume 22, Issue 3
The Upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia: The Road to (and from) Liberation Square
Egyptians threw off the thirty-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, but now find themselves under essentially the same military tutelage that they had hoped to escape.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
South Asia Faces the Future: Democracy on Hold in Pakistan
After September 11 and the start of the U.S.-led war on terrorists in Afghanistan, the Pakistani military regime of Pervez Musharraf found itself at the center of world attention. What do these new and dramatically changed circumstances portend for a possible return to elected, civilian rule in Islamabad?
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
The Democracy Barometers (Part II): Surveying South Asia
While the people of South Asia, especially those with higher levels of education and exposure to the media, prefer democracy to authoritarianism, they are willing to relax some of the requirements of liberal democracy.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Defending Democracy Within the EU
Should Brussels intervene to protect democracy within EU member states? Does Europe have the tools it would need to do so effectively? Recent developments in Hungary and Romania show the importance of addressing these questions sooner rather than later.
How Serbian Students Created the Largest Protest Movement in Decades
They have been smart, creative, leaderless, and transparent. And they aren’t targeting any one politician or party. They aim to change the entire system.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Russian Democracy in Eclipse: Force, Money, and Pluralism
Post-Soviet Russia's future may well turn on the interplay of state power with the business interests that now form Russia's best hope for advances in political pluralism.
Larry Diamond’s Greatest Hits
Larry Diamond, the leading scholar of democracy, helped to found the Journal of Democracy more than 32 years ago. “Democracy’s Arc: From Resurgent to Imperiled,” published on the eve of the war in Ukraine, was his final essay as our coeditor. But Larry penned numerous pieces for the Journal. Ten of these landmark essays are…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
India’s Democracy at 70: The Troublesome Security State
Read the full essay here. Seven decades after gaining its independence from the British Empire, India retains all the hallmarks of a functioning democracy: It holds reasonably free and fair elections, has a mostly independent judiciary plus a largely free press, and enjoys a robust and growing civil society. Yet thanks to India’s colonial inheritance…
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? A Fraying Union
Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” of European institutions. Nor will it be saved by the democratic mobilization of civil society. Paradoxically, it is widespread disillusionment with democracy—the shared belief that national governments are powerless in the face of global markets—that may be…
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
The Road to Digital Unfreedom: President Xi’s Surveillance State
Chinese authorities are wielding facial-recognition software, big-data analytics, and other digital technologies to control China’s citizens by monitoring and assessing their activities, both online and off.
July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Why India’s Political Elites Are to Blame
India has a long history of elites acting undemocratically. But the current government’s attacks on the media, arrests of opposition, and discriminatory laws are deeper and more alarming.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
Authoritarian Survival: Why Maduro Hasn’t Fallen
His regime has hung onto power despite setbacks that would have toppled most democratic governments. Besides pure repression, Maduro has developed new autocratic tools that have kept Venezuela’s authoritarian state afloat.
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
The Palestinian Elections: Beyond Hamas and Fatah
January’s remarkably free and fair parliamentary elections broke the PLO’s longstanding monopoly over Palestinian politics. Given Fatah’s disarray and the difficulties facing Hamas, there is now a window of opportunity for a third and avowedly liberal-democratic option to emerge.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
Democracy’s Surprising Resilience
Despite worry of an authoritarian resurgence, the vast majority of “third wave” democracies are enduring. Democracy, buoyed by economic growth and urbanization, is outperforming most people’s expectations or fears.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Why Greece Failed
Greece was an early success story of the “third wave,” but since the 2008 financial crisis, it has become a poster child for the pains of austerity and unrest. Its troubles at one level are fiscal and economic, but there is a political dimension that may be even more critical.
Why Don’t Voters Care About Local Government?
National politics is increasingly overshadowing everything else, even as local government does more and more. Here’s how to right the balance.