October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Political violence is rising in wealthy democracies. Polarized societies and bitter party politics are putting candidates and election officials in serious peril. Political leaders, more than anyone, have the power to stoke or stamp out this dangerous cycle of violence.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
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.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
The problem for democracy today is not capitalism; it is a decline in public honesty and civility. But there is an opportunity to revive our sense of national community, if we seize it.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Democracy is on dangerous ground when its fundamental rules become the main point of political contention. This is where we are today. The truth is that the institutions, not just the players, need to change.
What Burkina Faso’s Tragic History Teaches Us | John Chin, Haleigh Bartos, and Aleksaundra Handrinos
Ten years after the revolution, the lessons for protecting a budding democracy and guarding against violent extremism are clear.
Who Is the Real Javier Milei? | Daniel Torres Checa
He is rude, foul-mouthed, and one of the most popular politicians in the world. Like it or not, Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding president is the new face of populism.
How to Defend the Vote from Authoritarians | Giorgi Meladze and Srdja Popovic
Georgia’s opposition is facing a pivotal election. But it isn’t enough to win: They need to be prepared to move quickly, mobilize the public, and force the regime to concede.
News & Updates
November 2024
Beijing is bent on curbing democratic freedoms and imposing totalitarianism at home and abroad. The following Journal of Democracy essays dissect China’s influence operations and offer ways for even fragile democracies to combat autocratic influence.
October 2024
Authoritarians are evolving — becoming more unconstrained and repressive at home, and more destructive on the global stage. The following essays unpack the authoritarians’ toolkit, revealing their strategies for taking power and upending the liberal world order.
Most Read
Three factors help to explain the historically wide split between the electoral and popular vote counts: economic and political fundamentals, polarization among voters over identity issues, and the sharply divergent ways in which the candidates chose to address these issues.
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
Forget his excuses. Russia’s autocrat doesn’t worry about NATO. What terrifies him is the prospect of a flourishing Ukrainian democracy.
Under Narendra Modi, India is maintaining the trappings of democracy while it increasingly harasses the opposition, attacks minorities, and stifles dissent. It can still reverse course, but the damage is mounting.
The case of Hungary shows how autocrats can rig elections legally, using legislative majorities to change the law and neutralize the opposition at every turn, no matter what strategy they adopt.
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