January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future
The Editors’ introduction to “Democracy’s Future.”
Subject: Defining democracy
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future: More Liberal, Preliberal, or Postliberal?
Read the full essay here.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future: Do Economists Know Best?
Read the full essay here.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
Delegative Democracy
Read the full essay here. Image credit: GIAN MASKO/AFP via Getty Images)
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
International Organizations & Democracy: The OAS and Democratic Governance
Read the full essay here.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
International Organizations & Democracy: Toward a Global “Guarantee Clause”
Read the full essay here.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
Philosophy and Democracy
A review of The Ennobling of Democracy: The Challenge of the Postmodern Age, by Thomas Pangle.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
The Editors’ introduction to the Journal of Democracy‘s special issue marking the fiftieth anniversary of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
The Uncertain Triumph of Democratic Capitalism
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3
What Democracy Is…and Is Not
Read the full essay here. Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Winter 1991, Volume 2, Issue 1
The First Democracy
A review of Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, by Donald Kagan.
January 2026, Volume 37, Issue 1
What Institutions Truly Subvert Democracy?
Authoritarians often abuse electoral systems and institutional power to thwart majority will. But the basic principles of democracy—political participation, fundamental rights, and the rule of law—can take shape in more than one way.
January 2026, Volume 37, Issue 1
Guarding Against Minority Rule
While attending to the risk of majoritarian abuse, we must also guard against institutions that empower—and even entrench—authoritarian minorities.
Summer 1990, Volume 1, Issue 3
Three Paradoxes of Democracy
While democracy is the most admired form of government, maintaining it requires contending with its contradictions.
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
Why the “Journal of Democracy”
The Journal of Democracy seeks to bridge some of these gaps. We hope that it will help to unify what is becoming a worldwide democratic movement. But like genuine democracy itself, the journal will be pluralistic. Its pages will be open to a wide variety of perspectives and shades of opinion, and it will seek…
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
Tiananmen and Beyond: After the Massacre
The following text is based upon remarks presented by Wuer Kaixi in Washington, D.C. on 2 August 1989 at a meeting cosponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
Tiananmen and Beyond: Peering Over the Great Wall
Our goal at present is the thorough modernization of China. We all have a compelling sense of the need for this. There is a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction with the status quo among people in all walks of life.
World Religions and Democracy
Can religion be compatible with liberal democracy? This volume brings together insights from renowned scholars and world leaders in a provocative discussion of religions' role in the success or failure of democracy.