October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Iran in Ferment: The Green Wave
Iran’s massive protest movement against June’s electoral coup is now moving into a new phase. What are its prospects?
Free Articles
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Iran in Ferment: Cracks in the Regime
The Islamic Republic is struggling, with the Revolutionary Guard Corps more and more the only thing propping it up.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
Iran in Ferment: Civil Society’s Choice
When students and other rights activists decided to seize a tactical opening that the regime cynically offered them during the 2009 campaign, they were making a choice that was even more fateful than they knew.
October 2009, Volume 20, Issue 4
An Accidental Advance? South Africa’s 2009 Elections
The ANC saw its first-ever decline in vote share in South Africa's 2009 parliamentary elections. Will the ANC heed this warning to mend internal divisions and reconnect with voters?
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
China Since Tiananmen: The Massacre’s Long Shadow
In the two decades since the Tiananmen massacre, China has enjoyed rapid economic growth and a measure of political stability. Recently, however, various forms of popular protest have been increasing. Do they represent a potentially serious threat to CCP rule?
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
China Since Tiananmen: Authoritarian Impermanence
Like all contemporary nondemocratic systems, the Chinese system suffers from weak legitimacy at the level of regime type. The most likely form of transition for China remains the model of Tiananmen, when three elements came together: a robust plurality of disaffected citizens, a catalytic event, and a split in the leadership. Had China chosen the…
July 2009, Volume 20, Issue 3
Malaysia’s Electoral Upheaval
In March 2008, Malaysian voters dealt the long-ruling National Front coalition an enormous shock—pushing that party closer to losing power than it has ever been in Malaysia’s entire history as an independent country.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Religion and Democracy
The secularization hypothesis has failed, and failed spectacularly. We must find a new paradigm to help us understand the complexities of the relationship between religion and democracy.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Reading Russia: The Siloviki in Charge
Since Vladimir Putin’s rise to power at the end of the 1990s, siloviki—the people who work for, or used to work for, Russia’s “ministries of force” have spread to posts throughout all the branches of power in Russia.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Reading Russia: The Rules of Survival
The image of Putin’s Russia as an authoritarian oil state attracts many Western analysts because it seems to carry a promise that falling oil prices will bring regime change. Thus, many were convinced that a major economic crisis would force the Kremlin either to open up the system and allow more pluralism and competition, or…
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental?
Democracy-aid providers are moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies and are adapting their programs to diverse political contexts. Two distinct overall approaches to assisting democracy have emerged in response.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Can Cuba Change? Ferment in Civil Society
The opposition within Cuba has become more diverse as well as more unified, and the regime, despite its enduring capacity for repression, is showing signs of underlying weakness.
January 2009, Volume 20, Issue 1
Is Democracy Possible?
While the belief in democracy has spread around the world, it has begun to crumble in some of the West’s finest academic institutions.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Thailand Since the Coup
Torn between populism and those who fail to respect democratic limits in combating it, Thailand badly needs to locate a middle ground where the best of its old traditions can help it adjust to the new challenges that it faces.
October 2008, Volume 19, Issue 4
Georgia’s Year of Turmoil
A domestic political crisis began brewing in Georgia long before the current conflict with Russia. Since the Rose Revolution, the country has been troubled by flawed elections, a “superpresidency,” and a malleable constitution.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: Three Kinds of Movements
The rise of Islamist parties poses new challenges to efforts to understand the relationship between Islam and democracy. A diverse group of authors investigates this new phenomenon and its implications for the future of democracy in the Middle East.
July 2008, Volume 19, Issue 3
Islamist Parties and Democracy: Going Back to the Origins
The rise of Islamist parties poses new challenges to efforts to understand the relationship between Islam and democracy. A diverse group of authors investigates this new phenomenon and its implications for the future of democracy in the Middle East.
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.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Russia’s Transition to Autocracy
Just as Russia's leaders pretend that they are ruling over a democracy, they also pretend that they are ruling over an empire.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Progress and Retreat in Africa: Challenges of a “Frontier” Region
In Africa today, investment flows in and civil societies grow stronger, yet many of the continent's leaders continue to behave autocratically, defending their privileges against the spread of law-based rule.