Volume 32, Issue 4
The National Endowment for Democracy’s founding president made enormous contributions to the fight for freedom and human rights. Reflections on what his 37-year tenure meant for the democratic cause—and this journal.
Thirty years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia is firmly in the grip of an autocrat. Where did Russia’s path go wrong?
Can we recognize the symptoms of backsliding before it’s too late? Though the signals are sometimes faint, a new study of sixteen cases around the world reveals key dynamics common to all.
Unlike in the past, populism in Latin America today is driven mainly by the power of charismatic leaders—and it is eating away at the region’s already weak party system.
A weakened mandate from voters and perennial state dysfunction are putting Mexico’s populist president in a bind. Will he further damage democracy to fulfill his promises for change?
Indonesia’s president claims he is curbing democracy today to save it later. If he is wrong about his long-term wager, democratic institutions may not survive.
Turkey’s ruling party has developed a new tool: When its local candidates lose, it dismisses them and appoints its own choice under a guise that maintains the veneer of democracy. It is an autocratic innovation that may soon spread.
Mass uprisings toppled dictators in both Sudan and Algeria in 2019, but only Sudan was able to secure a transition to democracy due to important differences in their protest movements, militaries, and the role of the international community.
Majorities across the globe claim to support democratic rule, but their definitions of it vary widely. A look at where publics are willing to exchange their democratic principles for better results—and where they will not.
A Europe-wide study shows that those who back the incumbent are more likely to oppose democratic norms. The effect is strongest among those who favor right-wing populists.
Just as public frustration with democracy is mounting across the West, social turmoil and new technologies are splintering the very political authority governments need to act.
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
Shortcomings in governance and electoral administration may be accelerating India’s slide to autocracy. Were these flaws embedded in Indian democracy from the start?
Reports on elections in Armenia, Ethiopia, Iran, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Russia, Zambia.
Excerpts from: Sergei Adamovich’s remarks on the death of Andrei Sakharov; Marjan Farsad’s “Moonlight”; joint letter for a global moratorium on surveillance-technology sales; Zambian president Haikande Hichilema’s inaugural address.
