Category: News & Updates

The forces that brought Erdoğan to power may be his downfall in Turkey’s May 14 elections. Here are a selection of key Journal of Democracy essays from the last two decades of his rule.

Our just-released April issue, featuring “The Putin Myth” by Kathryn Stoner, is free through May 15.

To mark International Women’s Day, the Journal of Democracy looks at how women are shaping the fight for freedom.

Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began one year ago. The war has inflicted a heavy toll on Russia in addition to the mass carnage in Ukraine. But Ukrainians are fighting valiantly and finding creative means of resistance.

Ten of the former ambassador’s best JoD essays spanning the last thirty years.

The Journal of Democracy has analyzed democracy’s fortunes across the globe, from Ukraine to Afghanistan and the Philippines, from Hungary to Tunisia. Here are our top-ten most-read essays from 2022.

Pulitzer-Prize winning historian and Journal of Democracy editorial board member Anne Applebaum delivered the 19th Annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture, and then sat down for a conversation with Journal coeditor William J. Dobson. Read more here.

Host Justin Kempf interviews Michael Ignatieff, author of “The Politics of Enemies,” on the contentious nature of democratic politics—and what happens when the tension grows too great.

At the Chinese Communist Party’s Twentieth National Congress last week, Xi Jinping secured a third term as Party secretary. But the most important development wasn’t Xi extending his rule or the Party’s elevation of new leaders. Rather, Xi made clear that the era of Chinese economic growth above all else was over. Now the Party’s…

China’s Twentieth Party Congress opened this week in Beijing. President Xi Jinping is widely expected to cement his position as Chinese Communist Party leader for an unprecedented third term.

Fareed Zakaria cites Pei’s “China: Totalitarianism’s Long Shadow” to explain the durability of China’s single-party regime.

The LA Times’ Matt Pearce cites JoD editor Will Dobson and cofounder Larry Diamond in his article on U.S. media’s growing efforts to defend democracy.

Larry Diamond, the leading scholar of democracy, helped to found the Journal of Democracy more than 32 years ago. “Democracy’s Arc: From Resurgent to Imperiled,” published on the eve of the war in Ukraine, was his final essay as our coeditor. But Larry penned numerous pieces for the Journal. Ten of these landmark essays are…

The International Forum for Democratic Studies’ Sharp Power Research Portal is a tool for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and activists to recognize patterns of authoritarian influence in several domains. It includes over 750 resources providing research, reporting, and analysis.

The Journal of Democracy has been covering the roots of Putin’s obsession with Ukraine for nearly 20 years. Here are 7 essential reads on the origins of the conflict, and what brought us to this dangerous moment.

In an essay for Foreign Policy based on his article for the January issue of the Journal, James Loxton shows how one of Latin America’s most unequal and corrupt states is also one of its freest and wealthiest.

In a year marked by high political drama, economic unrest, and rising assaults on democracy, we at the Journal of Democracy sought to provide insight and analysis of the forces that imperil freedom. Here are our 10 most-read essays of 2021.

Tarek Masoud, a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy, is professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is the author of Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt (2014) and of The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform with Jason Brownlee and…

In an article for Foreign Policy based on his essay in the July issue of the Journal, Péter Krekó shows that authoritarians are exaggerating their power and influence abroad. And democratic publics increasingly believe them.

Nilay Saiya, whose essay “Why Freedom Defeats Terrorism” appeared in our April issue, argues in a Slate piece based on his article that civil liberties—not crackdowns—are the key to preventing terrorism.

In an interview with The Signal and a Foreign Policy piece based on his April article in the Journal, Christian Welzel argues that the global shift toward democratic values runs deeper than today’s autocratic upswell.

On 3 December 2020, renowned China scholar Minxin Pei delivered the 17th Annual Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World. Read his reflections on “Totalitarianism’s Long Shadow,” based on the lecture, in the April Journal.

At NPR, Jeff Conroy-Krutz discusses rising support for media crackdowns in Africa, while Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura consider the appeal of East-Central Europe’s populists in Foreign Policy.

On 23 January 2020, Journal of Democracy editorial board co-chairs Lucan Way and Steven Levitsky sat down with the Journal’s Brent Kallmer to discuss the new competitive authoritarianism that has emerged in some countries with relatively strong democratic traditions and institutions.

“To understand why liberal democracy is on the defensive,” writes William A. Galston, “there is no better place to start than the 30th-anniversary edition of the Journal of Democracy.” Read more in Galston’s full article on “Liberal Democracy’s Threats From Within.”

William (“Will”) Dobson, most recently chief international editor at NPR, has held senior editorial posts at Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Slate. He is author of The Dictator’s Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy (2012). Read the full press release here.

At the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, read Alence and Pitcher’s take on South Africa’s 8 May 2019 national elections, and stay tuned for an expanded analysis in the October 2019 JoD. Plus, read Alence’s 2004 Journal article (free through May 31) for a deeper look into the history of South Africa’s democracy.

In her recent piece for the Monkey Cage blog, Victoria Tin-bor Hui discusses what the sentencing of Umbrella Movement leaders means for those struggling for democracy in Hong Kong. Read her article on the Umbrella Movement protests from the April 2015 JoD, free of charge through May 24.

Hong Kong law professor Benny Tai, who on April 24 received a sixteen-month prison sentence in connection with his role in the 2014 Occupy Central movement, reflected in the April 2019 Journal on the significance of the Tiananmen Square protests for Hong Kong’s democrats. Read a shortened version of his essay at the Diplomat.

In a follow-up to his widely discussed Washington Post essay “The Strongmen Strike Back,” Robert Kagan recommends the JoD’s January 2019 cluster “The Road to Digital Unfreedom” as a resource on “how new technologies have become tools of dictatorship.”

On 19 March 2019, January-issue contributors Ronald J. Deibert and Xiao Qiang discussed new dangers presented by social media and related digital tools with Shanthi Kalathil and Christopher Walker of NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies.

On new podcasts produced by NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, Larry Diamond discusses “China and the Global Challenge to Democracy,” and Marc F. Plattner explores “Democracy and the Illiberal Temptation.” And don’t miss conversations with recent JoD author Ronald J. Deibert on how social media may be fueling authoritarianism and with April-issue contributor Glenn Tiffert on digital censorship in China…

An editorial on China’s digital repression highlights the work of JoD contributor Xiao Qiang, who in our January issue warns that the integration of new digital technologies and mass information collection may soon enable Chinese authorities to preemptively crush opposition.   

Drawing on his October-issue contribution “Latin America’s Shifting Politics: The Lessons of Bolivia,” Jean-Paul Faguet explains why the collapse of Bolivia’s party system may offer “an analytical window into the future” for Western countries.   

For the first time, JoD content is available on iTunes. Browse our listing of articles currently ready for download, and keep an eye out for additional content to follow soon.   

In a thirty-minute interview, frequent Journal contributor and Editorial Board member Ivan Krastev discusses with the Open Society Foundation’s Leonard Benardo his new book After Europe.   

At the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, JoD authors Joshua Tucker, Yannis Theocharis, Margaret E. Roberts, and Pablo Barberá draw on their findings from our October issue to assess "how social media can both weaken—and strengthen—democracy."   

In a special exchange appearing only on our website, distinguished scholars Amy C. Alexander and Christian Welzel; Pippa Norris; and Erik Voeten offer critiques of the July 2016 and January 2017 articles by Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk. A reply from Foa and Mounk follows.  

Drawing on her thought-provoking article "The Pipe Dream of Undemocratic Liberalism" from our July issue, Berman discusses the history of illiberal democracy, the relationship between technocracy and populism, and why liberalism and democracy still need one another.   

The Washington Post’s Dan Balz surveys Persily’s analysis, published in the April 2017 Journal of Democracy, of how groundbreaking shifts in the sphere of online media and communications are affecting the political environment.  

Jeff Guo in the Washington Post’s Wonkblog and Erik Voeten in the Post’s Monkey Cage grapple with Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa's findings on support for democracy among young people. Also in the Monkey Cage, Foa and Mounk respond, and Voeten continues the discussion.  

"Seymour Martin Lipset passed away eleven years ago. . . . Today, his prolific scholarship remains as timely and influential as when he was an actively engaged author," writes Mildred A. Schwartz in a post for the blog of Oxford University Press on the enduring relevance of Seymour Martin Lipset. Read the whole tribute here.

The New York Times previews Roberto Foa and Yascha Mounk's essay "The Signs of Deconsolidation," which will appear in the January 2016 issue of the Journal of Democracy.

In "Vladimir Putin Is Bringing Back the 1930s," Washington Post columnist George Will discusses the Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy.

Stephan Haggard reviews the JoD's latest book, Authoritarianism Goes Global.

The American Interest considers Roberto Foa & Yascha Mounk's new JoD essay.  

In "The Year of Democratic Decay," Daniel Drezner cites "The Danger of Deconsolidation: The Democratic Disconnect" by Roberto Stefan Foa & Yascha Mounk in the July JoD.

Washington Post warns of "Democracy in Retreat," cites new JoD book, Authoritarianism Goes Global.

In "The Global War Against NGOs," the Washington Post's Editorial Board laments the worsening global environment for NGOs detailed in Douglas Rutzen's recent JoD essay.

Steven Radelet will discuss his essay "The Rise of the World's Poorest Countries" at NED on Oct. 26 at noon.

Recent posts on Forbes.com and ForeignPolicy.com discuss Carl Minzner's July essay on the fate of China's reform era under Xi Jinping.

"Europe and Azerbaijan: The End of Shame" by Gerald Knaus (July 2015).

"The Authoritarian Resurgence: China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela" panel discussion featuring JoD authors Javier Corrales, Andrew J. Nathan, Lilia Shevtsova, and Frederic Wehrey. (4/23, 12-2 pm, at NED)

Thomas Friedman discusses Larry Diamond's "Facing up to the Democratic Recession" in a New York Times op-ed.

Marc Plattner tackles this question in an interview with the Levada Center's Denis Volkov.

All-star panel discussion "Is Democracy in Decline?" to mark the Journal's 25th anniversary.

A conversation with JoD's coeditor about "The Journal of Democracy 25 Years In."

To mark the occasion, a panel discussion featuring coeditors Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner and several contributors to the 25th anniversary issue will be held in Washington, DC, on 1/29 at 4:15 pm.   

NED will host "Ukraine: The Maidan and Beyond" on 7/14 at noon. The panel will feature four contributors to the eponymous set of essays in the July JoD.

In the new JoD podcast, Adrienne LeBas discusses her recent essay "A New Twilight in Zimbabwe? The Perils of Power Sharing."

At noon on 4/25 at the NED, Tarek Masoud, Larry Diamond, & more will discuss the new JoD book Democratization & Authoritarianism in the Arab World.

Journal coeditor Marc F. Plattner discusses how the latest JoD book explains the major events of the Arab Spring.

A panel discussion featuring Andrew Nathan, Minxin Pei & more will be held at NED on Apr. 10 from 4-5:30 pm to mark the publication of the latest JoD book, “Will China Democratize?”

Ahead of the Sochi Olympics, the Moscow Times and the St. Petersburg Times ran an adapted version of "Breaking the News: The Role of State-Run Media."

The Journal talks with Matthias Matthijs about his essay "Mediterranean Blues: The Crisis in Southern Europe."

Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel lists the Oct. 2013 JoD essay "Tracking the Arab Spring: Why the Modest Harvest?" as one of 2013's top 5 academic journal articles.

CFR has listed the new JoD essay "Breaking the News: The Role of State-Run Media" by Christopher Walker and Robert W. Orttung among its "must reads."

The Washington Post op-ed "Authoritarian Regimes Re-Tool Their Media Control Strategy" by Robert Orttung and Christopher Walker is based on the authors' essay in the upcoming issue of the JoD.

Jorgen Møller and Svend-Eric Skaaning discuss their latest JoD article, "The Third Wave: Inside the Numbers."

The Council on Foreign Relations has included Steven Heydemann's JoD essay "Syria and the Future of Authoritarianism" on its list of "Must Reads."

A new JoD podcast is available! This time we speak with Nathan Brown on "Egypt's Failed Transition." Listen to it here or on iTunes!

New "Democracy Ideas" interview with Steven Heydemann about his JoD article "Tracking the "Arab Spring": Syria and the Future of Authoritarianism."

Essays on Eygpt and Syria in latest issue of the Journal of Democracy, as well as Francis Fukuyama and Marc F. Plattner on governance and democracy & essays on the “Arab Spring,” Paraguay, Malaysia, & more.

The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the NED invites applications for fellowships in 2014–15. 

The Aug. 22 Washington Post editorial "China’s Half-Measure on the Rule of Law" cites Carl Minzner's JoD essay "China Tipping at Point: The Turn Against Legal Reform."  

Listen to in-depth interviews with Kurt Weyland and Leon Aron about their essays in July's Journal of Democracy.

The Atlantic Online has featured Kurt Weyland's essay from the July JoD.

Writing about ongoing protests around the world, Debasish Roy Chowdhury cites Francis Fukuyama's January 2012 JoD essay.

Democracy in East Asia: A New Century, the latest in the Journal of Democracy book series, is now available.

The April issue of the JoD is now available and has topped Democracy Lab's list of recommended reads this week.

In "The Old Regime and the Revolution" (3/16/13),  the Economist cites the JoD cluster "China at the Tipping Point?"

Larry Diamond will teach a free online course on Democratic Development through Stanford University.

JoD ed. board member Vladimir Tismaneanu discusses his new book, The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the 20th Century, at NED on 2/27.

The JoD’s "discussion on China could just as well be a discussion on Russia," writes Lilia Shevtsova in the American Interest.

JoD editorial board member and Forum research council member Ivan Krastev asks if democracy can survive without popular trust in elected leaders in In Mistrust We Trust.

At a Feb.7 event at the NED, JoD authors will discuss whether evidence points to a coming period of political change in China.

The Economist cited Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., and Alexi Gugushvili’s Journal of Democracy article on Georgia’s 2012 parliamentary elections.

ForeignPolicy.com's Democracy Lab Weekly Brief has once again included the Journal of Democracy among its "recommended reads."

The Wall Street Journal published a short version of Perry Link and Xiao Qiang's forthcoming JoD essay "China at the Tipping Point? From 'Fart People' to Citizens."

Marc Lynch cites new JoD essay on the latest findings of the Arab Barometer Survey on his Abu Aardvark's Middle East Blog.

TheAtlantic.com is featuring a version of NED Democracy Award recipient Hkun Htun Oo's forthcoming JoD essay.

Join us this afternoon at 4:30 (EST) for a live stream of the panel event launching our new volume, "Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy" — at National Endowment for Democracy.