July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Polarization versus Democracy
- Milan W. Svolik
Why do ordinary people vote to return to office undemocratic incumbents? New survey experiments in several countries suggest that many voters are willing to put their partisan interests above democratic principles—a finding that may be key to understanding democratic backsliding.
July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3
Democracy as a Universal Value
- Amartya Kumar Sen
The recognition of democracy as a universally relevant system is a major revolution in thinking, and one of the main contributions of the twentieth century. While not yet universally practiced, democracy is now being taken as generally right.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the concession speech of former Zambian president Rupiah Banda; the inauguration speech of Zambian president Michael Sata; the “Russia Development Index 2010–2011” report.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the inaugural address of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko; “My Ideals and the Career Path I Have Chosen,” an autobiographical essay by byIlhamTohti; a speech given by Chinese lawyer and civil-rights activist Chen Guangcheng to markthe impendingtwenty-fifth anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Bolivia, Botswana, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Kosovo, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Kenyan president-elect Emilio Mwai Kibaki’s inaugural speech; statement by the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy condemning the crackdown on Cuban dissidents; Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general César Gaviria’s speech at a conference entitled “Financing Democracy: Political Parties, Campaigns and Elections.”
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Albania, Benin, Chad, Guyana, Iran, Micronesia, Mongolia, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Uganda, and Yugoslavia (Montenegro).
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hungary, Malawi, Panama, South Africa, Tunisia, Ukraine.
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turkey.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Books in Review: Opening North Korea
- John Knaus
- Lynn Lee
A review of Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea by Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Enrolling India
- Šumit Ganguly
A review of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise by Ornit Shani.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Misunderstanding Democratic Backsliding
- Thomas Carothers
- Brendan Hartnett
If democracies did a better job “delivering” for their citizens, so the thinking goes, people would not be so ready to embrace antidemocratic alternatives. Not so. This conventional wisdom about democratic backsliding is seldom true and often not accurate at all.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a statement by a group of NGOs on China; a speech by former prime minister of Moldova Maia Sandu; a speech by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed; an open letter calling for free and fair elections in Russia.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Coup in Tunisia: Is Democracy Lost?
- Moncef Marzouki
President Kais Saied’s power grab has crushed Tunisian democracy, returning the country to the old playbook of Arab dictators past and present.
October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: documents issued by Guatemala’s Court of Constitutionality and leaders of civil society; “The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action”; statement of Nigeria’s Civil Liberties Organisation; address of Dr. Sein Winn, leader of the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma; speeches by the South African recipients of the 1993 Liberty Medal.
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006)
A tribute in remembrance of the life of Seymour Martin Lipset (1922–2006).
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Maria Ressa’s comments on social media at the 2021 Copenhagen Democracy Summit; NGO statement on the arrest of Algerian human-rights defenders; statement denouncing the dismissal of Constitutional Court judges and the attorney general; letter on the sentencing of a Saudi man for allegedly running a satirical Twitter account.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Discovering the “State-Nation”
- Ashutosh Varshney
A review of Crafting State-Nations: India and Other Multinational Democracies by Alfred Stepan, Juan J. Linz, and Yogendra Yadav.
How a Pastor Found the Courage to Defy a Dictator
- Evan Mawarire
Evan Mawarire never thought of himself as a revolutionary. In a gripping new memoir, he tells the story of how he went from a humble clergyman to the leader of a movement that helped the Zimbabwean people find their voice.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
How to Compete in Unfair Elections
- Alyena Batura
Opposition movements often boycott rigged polls rather than risk legitimizing an autocrat. It is usually a mistake. Here is the playbook for how one opposition seized the advantage.
