Author: Frederic Wehrey | Journal of Democracy

Frederic Wehrey is senior associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings (2013).

April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2

The Authoritarian Resurgence: Saudi Arabia’s Anxious Autocrats

Frederic Wehrey

Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth sustains the antidemocratic policies that a nervous royal regime uses to defend against the threats and problems that confront it.

July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3

Bahrain’s Decade of Discontent

Frederic Wehrey

When this small island kingdom in the Gulf joined the wider Arab world’s political upheavals in March 2011, it was a reaction to regional events, but also a reflection of internal problems that had been festering for a decade.

Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy

In recent years, as leading authoritarian countries such as China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela have become emboldened within the global arena, challenging the liberal international political order, the advanced democracies have retreated rather than responding to this threat.

Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World

The uprisings that swept the Arab world beginning in 2010 toppled four entrenched rulers and seemed to create a political opening in a region long impervious to democratization.