January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
While charges of electronic fraud in the actual voting or vote-counting are unproven, the dubious and even illegal tactics that the Chavez regime used throughout the larger process point to rampant "institutional fraud" that is undermining Venezuelan democracy.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
The democratic forces had an uphill climb going into the September 2004 legislative elections, but they made unforced errors as well. What were these, and how can the democrats do better next time?
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
To everyone's surprise, the Congress party defeated the incumbent BJP in the April-May 2004 parliamentary elections. What caused this political turnaround, and what will be its effects?
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
A review of China's Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead by Bruce Gilley.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Over the last two decades, Latin America has seen more than a dozen presidencies come to a premature end. It is time to consider changing constitutional designs that promote conflict rather than more consensual ways of doing politics.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Since most of the world’s sovereign states are now democracies, there is a growing scholarly focus on “good” or “better” democracy, and on how improvements can not only be measured, but encouraged.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Law-based rule means a set of basic conditions that make civic life possible. A democratic rule of law requires all that and more, however.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
A ket to “modern representative political democracy” is accountability, but the task of assessing it must be carefully thought through.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Freedom has always been integral to democracy. How to guard liberty is a question every democratic regime must answer.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Democracy requires robust political equality, but the persistence of social, economic and cultural inequality complicates its realization.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Responsiveness may be conceived as a series of linkages intended to ensure that governments respect the preferences of the governed.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Asking what makes a good democracy is a noble and sensible enterprise, but it will always point beyond the borders of empirical political science.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s election as president in her own right capped a campaign that spoke well of Philippine democracy, but yawning gaps in the rule of law obstruct the road to consolidation.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The lack of democracy in the Arab world is a problem that goes far beyond the absence of competitive elections. This lack must be traced not to religion or culture, but to adverse historical and geostrategic circumstances.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The notion that the Muslim world as a whole does not suffer from a deficit in terms of competitive democracy is apealing, but rests on evidence and assumptions that cannot withstand critical scrutiny.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Muslim-majority, non-Arab countries are “overachievers” at electoral competitiveness. Arab countries, by contrast, constitute a distinctive political community that at present is inhospitable to competitive elections.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Surveys show that Africans’ commitment to democracy fades over time, but also that their support can be refreshed by alternations in power via elections.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Slobodan Milošević fell in the fall of 2000 after he tried to pervert national election results. He had tampered with elections before and survived. What made 2000 different, and what are the lessons to be learned from it?
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
A review of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa by Howard W. French.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
As 2004 began, Afghanistan approved a new constitution that represents a key step forward in its political reconstruction. But it is not yet clear whether this new constitution will enable the country to surmount the many challenges that lie ahead.
