July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Aspirations and Realities in Africa: The DRC’s Electoral Sideshow
Stymied in his effort to secure a third term, President Joseph Kabila manipulated the electoral process in order to secure a compliant successor.
Subject: Opposition movements
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
30 Years After Tiananmen: Hong Kong Remembers
It was the impact of Tiananmen that made the democracy movement in Hong Kong a mass phenomenon. Today, the democratic cause in Hong Kong remains linked to the democratic cause in China as a whole.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
Armenia’s Velvet Revolution
In 2018, a peaceful protest movement brought down Armenia’s semiauthoritarian government and ushered in a new political era, the culmination of a long struggle for national pride, self-determination, and democracy.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Zimbabwe: An Opportunity Lost
Zimbabwe’s first elections since the November 2017 coup that ousted nonagenarian dictator Robert Mugabe were marred by the abuse of state resources, electoral irregularities, and a tragic bout of postelection violence that saw soldiers use deadly force against civilians.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Cambodia’s Transition to Hegemonic Authoritarianism
A crackdown on the opposition, followed by sham parliamentary elections in July 2018, has deepened and extended the decades-long personalist dictatorship of Hun Sen.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
The Downfall of Malaysia’s Ruling Party
In Malaysia’s May 2018 general election, a grand bargain between ex–prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and reform leader Anwar Ibrahim produced a political earthquake that ended 61 years of rule by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Mass Protests and the Military
When nonviolent mass protests occur under authoritarian regimes, the military plays a key role in determining the outcome: the hardening of the dictatorship, a new authoritarian regime, or a transition to democracy.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: A Neglected Democratic Heritage
Despite current trends, Chinese thinkers friendly to human rights and liberal democracy have left behind a treasury of thought from which their country may one day draw new inspiration.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
Iran’s Exclusionary Republic
A review of Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed by Misagh Parsa.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
The Rise of Kleptocracy: Autocrats versus Activists in Africa
Central African autocrats are using their stolen money to outmaneuver their opponents and deflect international criticism.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Iran’s 2017 Election: Waning Democratic Hopes
Wrongly viewed by many media sources as a victory for “reform” and “openness,” the recent presidential election in Iran actually reflected the demoralization and disengagement of the country’s prodemocratic opposition.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
The Kremlin Emboldened: Putin Is Not Russia
This essay chronicles Vladimir Putin’s successful efforts to transform Russia from the flawed democracy of the 1990s to the fully fledged authoritarian regime it is today, with falsified elections; censorship of the major media outlets; and repression of the opposition. Yet there are growing numbers of Russians—especially among the young generation—who are prepared to stand…
July 2017, Volume 28, Issue 3
Tanzania: Shrinking Space and Opposition Protest
Since Tanzania’s 2015 elections, rising repression and opposition protest have displaced an older dynamic of comparatively restrained and unchallenged dominance by the ruling party.
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
Jordan and Morocco: The Palace Gambit
Two of the Arab world’s more liberal regimes, the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco, are sometimes said to be evolving toward democracy. Is this true, and what are the longer-term prospects for these two monarchies?
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
The Gambia’s Electoral Earthquake
This small West African country voted a longtime dictator out of the presidency. This victory for democracy was seemingly snatched away by his refusal to leave power—yet a breathtaking reversal lay in store.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Britain After Brexit
Editors' introduction to "Britain After Brexit."
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Britain After Brexit: A Nation Divided
The referendum campaign and its aftermath have exposed fault lines between the “two Britains” that have been long in the making and that pose stark questions about national values and identity.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Britain After Brexit: Resistance from Scotland
Just two years after voting to stay in the United Kingdom, Scotland voted to remain in the EU while Britain as a whole voted to leave. Is another independence referendum coming?
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Britain After Brexit: The Risk to Northern Ireland
The British decision to leave the EU raises difficult challenges for the still-delicate settlement upon which peace and stability in Northern Ireland depend.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Britain After Brexit: A Transformed Political Landscape
The British party system is being fundamentally reshaped by the consequences of the British decision to leave the EU, which also threatens to reduce Britain’s influence on the rest of the world.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Turkey: How the Coup Failed
When parts of the Turkish military attempted a coup in July 2016, the competitive authoritarian AKP regime was able to bring both its competitive and its authoritarian features to bear, stopping the coup and launching a crackdown.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
The Rise of “Localism” in Hong Kong
The September 2016 Legislative Council election marked the rise of a new political force that emphasizes the specific interests and identity of Hong Kong. It has especially been championed by many of the young people who swelled 2014’s Umbrella Movement protests.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa: How International Pressure Can Help
The interplay between elections, popular protests, and international pressures has a profound effect on the behavior of African autocrats and their ability to stay in power even after their time is up.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
The Struggle Over Term Limits in Africa: The Power of Protest
As more and more African presidents attempt to remove or circumvent constitutional term limits, African populations increasingly are mobilizing en masse, at great risk, to defend their constitutions.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
The Authoritarian Resurgence: Iran’s Paradoxical Regime
Iran’s authoritarianism is more flexible and more durable than its detractors would hope, yet more fragile and endangered than its defenders claim.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: Beijing’s Broken Promises
China has gone back on its well-documented vow (and solemn treaty obligation) to allow Hong Kong genuine universal suffrage. Abrogated commitments and fake democracy are not the path to a thriving Hong Kong that feels at home within the People’s Republic of China.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: The Protests and Beyond
The demonstrations of late 2014 captured the world’s attention with their scale, passion, and resourcefulness, but in the end were unable to move dug-in local and national authorities. Yet time is still on the side of the demonstrators.
October 2014, Volume 25, Issue 4
From Politics to Protest
The protests that have been erupting around the world may signal the twilight of both the idea of revolution and the notion of political reformism.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: The House That Yanukovych Built
The events surrounding the EuroMaidan cannot be understood apart from the preceding five years of increasingly corrupt and authoritarian rule.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: Civil Society and Democratization
Despite the spirit of participation that characterized the Maidan, organized civil society groups were not a key factor.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: Who Were the Protesters?
Survey data reveal the makeup of the crowds in the Maidan and the factors that motivated them to take part in the protests.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Maidan and Beyond: Finding Ukraine
Ukrainians flocked to the Maidan to express a “choice for Europe,” but they may also have forged the beginnings of a new Ukrainian identity.
October 2013, Volume 24, Issue 4
Tracking the “Arab Spring”: Why the Modest Harvest?
Popular uprisings have occurred only in some Arab states and in even fewer have authoritarian rulers been overthrown. What factors allow us to predict whether an authoritarian regime will be vulnerable?
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Putin versus Civil Society: The Long Struggle for Freedom
Today’s Russian protest movement in many ways resembles past civil-rights and civil-resistance efforts in other parts of the world, from its commitment to nonviolence to its key demands—a vote that counts and equality under the law. Listen to the podcast.
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Putin versus Civil Society: Outlawing the Opposition
The Putin regime, having faced its first real challenge in the form of mass protests after the 2011 Duma elections, is responding with a series of laws intended to intimidate its civil-society opposition, if not stamp it out altogether.
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
The Freedom House Survey for 2012: Breakthroughs in the Balance
Although declines in freedom outnumbered gains yet again in 2012, the year was not without some significant progress, most notably in the case of Libya.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Tunisia’s Transition and the Twin Tolerations
Of all the “Arab Spring” countries, so far only Tunisia has managed to make a transition to democracy. Tunisians now have a chance to show the world a new example of how religion, society, and the state can relate to one another under democratic conditions.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
The Real Causes of the Color Revolutions
The “color revolutions” in the postcommunist countries cannot be attributed to diffusion alone. Structural factors offer a better explanation of why such revolutions have succeeded in some countries and not in others.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
The Remarkable Story of Somaliland
Emerging from one of the world’s most notorious failed states, Somaliland has become an oasis of relative democratic stability in the troubled Horn of Africa. What does its story teach us about democratic state-building?
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
The Orange Revolution and Beyond
Ukraine gained independence in 1991, but its people gained their freedom only in 2004 with the Orange Revolution—an uprising of the human spirit in which Ukrainians joined together to gain a voice in their future.
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.