Volume 19, Issue 4
Elections set the stage for the General’s exit after nearly a decade in power, yet Pakistan still faces deep-seated structural problems that cannot be remedied merely by a return to competitive electoral politics.
The military is currently showing signs of wanting to back away from overt political involvement, but this should not be confused with a rejection of praetorianism or an acceptance of the principle of civilian supremacy.
Since its founding out of the partition of British India in 1947, Pakistan has labored in the shadow of critical choices made at that time.
The military regime opened up the media sector to more competition and private broadcasters in 2002, and the ramifications turned out to be vast.
The military regime opened up the media sector to more competition and private broadcasters in 2002, and the ramifications turned out to be vast.
Once hailed as liberators, Zimbabwe’s ruling party now clings to power through violent repression. How did the country’s founding father become its dictator, and what patterns in his party’s past foretold such an outcome?
The Editors’ introduction to “Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy.”
Many of today’s developing-world and postcommunist democracies are at risk of reversal. What are the key factors that lead to democratic collapse?
"The Latin American Experience” argues that democratic stability requires policies that limit the society’s degree of substantive economic and social inequality.
The more-democratic postcommunist countries have maintained stronger social safety nets than their authoritarian counterparts, but they must reassess their welfare policies to address emerging social challenges.
Fifteen years after the wave of democratization crested in Africa, the region still grapples with an economic malaise that is disappointing popular expectations and undermining the legitimacy of electoral regimes.
Bolivia now finds itself locked in a stalemate between forces bent on “refounding” the country and an eastern region insisting on greater autonomy.
After the ethnic violence that marred its 2007 presidential election, Kenya must reform its institutions to better represent its diverse polity.
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.
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.
A review of Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy by Natan Sharansky.
Reports on elections in Angola, Cambodia, Grenada, Hong Kong, Macedonia, Mongolia, and Zimbabwe.
Excerpts from: a statement issued by a leading group of Russian democrats on the conflict over South Ossetia; a joint declaration condemning Russian military actions against Georgia; the African Democracy Forum’s statement condemning the military coup d’état in Mauritania.
