January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Confronting Our Common Enemy
Regime type is important, but it is the power of the fossil-fuel industry in both autocracies and democracies that is blocking the green transition globally.
Articles
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
A Reply to Our Critics
The authors identify and respond to four broad themes in the Climate Crisis debate.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Hong Kong’s Native Son
A review of The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic, by Mark L. Clifford.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
China’s Age of Counterreform
The People’s Republic of China has entered a new age, abandoning the ideological openness of the reform era and the socialist legacy of the revolutionary period. Under Xi Jinping, regime stability trumps all — and the PRC is weaker and less stable as a result.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
The Power of Liberal Nationalism
Democracy’s defenders have failed to appreciate the power of nationalism. They must arm themselves with emotionally compelling narratives to counter illiberal foes of free government. When they do, they are championing a winning message.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
How to Prevent Political Violence
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.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Majoritarianism Without Majorities
Majoritarian nationalism is a defining feature of our time. If we are to resist ethnonationalist leaders trying to recast our societies into imagined majorities, we must revise our conception of democracy and the exclusion inherent in majority rule.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Liberal Democracy in an Age of Immigration
Immigration threatens to erode liberalism, as far-right parties and migrant communities with illiberal views gain power. Mass publics have shouldered the blame. But should political elites be held responsible?
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Democracy and Diversity in Western Europe
Immigration has changed the face of Western Europe. Yet mainstream political parties have largely ignored citizens’ concerns about what immigration means for their societies, leaving them ripe for far-right populists to exploit.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
The Rise of Multicultural Nationalism
Some liberals attribute the origins of our polarized political era to “identity politics.” But multiculturalism need not provoke majoritarian anxieties — not if national identities can open ways for all citizens to be recognized and heard.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
Freedom of Expression’s Crisis of Interpretation
When an epidemic of Koran burnings swept Denmark and Sweden, the Danish government criminalized the practice. It is a misguided response that misses the opportunity to protect both minorities and the right to free speech.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
The 2024 EU Elections: The Far Right at the Polls
The far right celebrated big wins in the 2024 European Union elections, but it has struggled to translate that success into political power. Victory at the ballot box has not made its ideological and organizational divisions any easier to solve.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
The Long Decline of South Africa’s ANC
After thirty years of ANC dominance, the 2024 elections have ushered in multiparty politics in South Africa. Will the party’s centrist shift be enough to stop its descent, or is it destined to fracture further?
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
How Organized Crime Threatens Latin America
Drug cartels possess the power of militaries, the profits of corporations, and the coercive capacity of a state. They will not be eliminated any time soon. But the region’s democracies can seek to raise their costs, limit their influence, and curb the violence.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
China and the Battle for the Global South
Under Xi Jinping, the PRC has grown more assertive in the Global South. China aggressively targets country after country, often zeroing in on small but strategically significant states. But there are proven ways for even fragile democracies to resist Beijing’s influence.
October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4
The Return of Dictatorship
Alongside democratic backsliding is another, more pernicious phenomenon: dictatorial drift, where “soft” authoritarian regimes are opting to become highly repressive dictatorships. The West must develop new strategies to defend democracy across the globe.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Who Decides What Is Democratic?
The “crisis” of democracy is a crisis of representation. New parties, some of which are populist in troublingly illiberal ways, are arising from this moment. The danger that they pose is not that they are antidemocratic, but that they are antiliberal.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
When Democracy Is on the Ballot
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.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Misunderstanding Democratic Backsliding
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.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
The Rise of India’s Second Republic
While he did not achieve the sweeping victory many predicted, Narendra Modi led his ruling coalition to a third consecutive victory. In so doing, he is laying the foundation for a new political order in which India is simultaneously more democratic and more illiberal.