Two years ago, Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed in this war of attrition. The following Journal of Democracy essays reveal the impulses that led Putin to launch this brutal campaign and the resilience of those fighting to stop him.
Putin doesn’t care how many of his troops die. He is looking to win a war of attrition. On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine needs the West’s help—and it needs it now.
Alexei Navalny was one of the bravest and most influential political leaders of our time. His assassination should be a wake-up call for Western democracies.
Alexei Navalny loved Russia and was willing to risk everything for it. It is hard to grasp the magnitude of his death for his people and his country.
Vladimir Putin may have imprisoned, tortured, and killed the brilliant opposition leader, but even now Navalny is a threat to the corrupt autocracy he has built.
“Every opportunity must be used to speak out . . . I love Russia. My intellect tells me that it is better to live in a free and prosperous country than in a corrupt and impoverished one.”
Indonesian voters have made Prabowo Subianto, a special-forces commander with a dark past, their next president. Even as voters flocked to the polls, his election is a harbinger of democracy’s decline.
Most of the world’s democracies remain extremely vulnerable to sharp-power threats. The following Journal of Democracy essays explore how authoritarians weaponize universities, technologies, media, entertainment, and culture to attempt to crack democracy’s foundations.
The country’s polls were marred by delayed results and charges of rigging. Worse, they might plunge Pakistan into an even deeper political crisis.
President Macky Sall has called off his country’s presidential election just weeks ahead of the vote. His unconstitutional decree will not only keep him in power, but threatens to throw Senegal into violent chaos.
Reports on elections in Comoros, El Salvador, Senegal, and Tuvalu.
El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele may be overwhelmingly popular, but he wasn’t going to let his electoral ambitions hinge on being well-liked. Instead, he rigged the playing field before the first vote was cast.
He has created a new office with massive investigatory powers that are vaguely defined and leave everyone on edge. In other words, it’s classic Orbán.
Hundreds of thousands of Germans are taking to the streets in protest against the country’s far-right parties. Will it shift the tide or leave Germany further divided?
We can learn a lot about the crackdown in Hong Kong if we compare it to Thailand—and vice versa. Autocrats and activists are learning from each other in real time.
In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Kurt Weyland argues that democracy almost always triumphs over populism. In fact, while strongmen may strain democratic institutions, they rarely come out on top.
Reports on elections in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Serbia, Sint Maarten, and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s voters rewarded the ruling party with an unprecedented third consecutive term, despite the mainland’s attempts to intimidate. Expect Beijing to find new ways to threaten the democracy off its coast.
Many feared Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s election would spell the end of Philippine democracy. But the dictator’s son has surprised nearly everyone, playing the role of a reformer while moving fast to sideline his populist rivals.
The ten most-read online exclusives this year focused on the Russia-Ukraine war as well as events in China, Iran, Western Europe, and Latin America.
