January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
A Russian Liberal’s Lament
A review of Lonely Power: Why Russia Has Failed to Become the West and the West Is Weary of Russia by Lilia Shevtsova.
610 Results
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
A review of Lonely Power: Why Russia Has Failed to Become the West and the West Is Weary of Russia by Lilia Shevtsova.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Iran is in the midst of an ideological crisis. Growing numbers of Iranians are rejecting the religious underpinnings of the Supreme Leader’s rule, and turning their backs on the Islamic Republic. The regime’s only response is harsher repression—a response that will deepen the anger that is bringing everyday Iranians out into the streets.
This is the darkest moment for freedom in half a century. Whether democracy regains its footing will depend on how democratic leaders and citizens respond to emboldened authoritarians and the fissures within their own societies.
January 2012, Volume 23, Issue 1
A review of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War by Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
A review of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise by Ornit Shani.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Is liberal democracy the endpoint of history? The ongoing democratic recession, growing disaffection among citizens, and rising populism pose new challenges to this view. Yet testing Francis Fukuyama’s much-criticized thesis requires us to consider not only liberal democracy’s internal contradictions, but also those of its authoritarian rivals.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
Despite high hopes for progress toward democracy, the military’s power remains stubbornly entrenched, while Aung San Suu Kyi seems to lack the skills to run the government effectively.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Excerpts from: portions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's closing statement at his fraud trial on 10 November 2010; the Casablanca Call for Democracy and Human Rights; an open letter written by two dozen former officials of the People’s Republic of China Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; a UN resolution establishing the special rapporteur on freedom…
October 2014, Volume 25, Issue 4
Excerpts from: Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilve’s speech in Oslo, Norway; Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech; Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán's shocking speech in favor of an “illiberal” state; an open letter by senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam calling for an end to communism; the inaugural address of Colombian…
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Excerpts from: speeches and declarations issued in the course of the failed USSR coup; speeches presented at the First Ibero-American Summit; Charter 91, signed by more than 100 Iraqi expatriates.
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Iranian women’s rights activist Shaparak Shajarizadeh’s speech accepting the Morris B. Abram award; the World Uyghur Congress statement for the UN’s 75th anniversary; call by NGOs for the release of human-rights advocate Ramy Kamel in Egypt; NGO statement on the police response to Thai prodemocracy protests; statement of support for LGBTI activists in Poland; statement…
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Excerpts from: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Summit for Democracy speech; announcement by Women’s Tennis Association cancelling future tournaments in China; statement on sentencing of Tony Chung under Hong Kong’s National Security Law; Honduran president Xiomara Castro’s inauguration address; “Nigeria Unite” by DJ Switch.
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
Excerpts from: letter from the Editors of Novaya Gazeta; Speech by Ukraine’s UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya; statement by former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė; statement by the Russian Anti-War Committee; transcript of an interrogation of an antiwar protester by Russian police; speech by Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky to the U.K. Parliament
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
The case of Hungary shows how autocrats can rig elections legally, using legislative majorities to change the law and neutralize the opposition at every turn, no matter what strategy they adopt.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Thirty years after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia is firmly in the grip of an autocrat. Where did Russia’s path go wrong?
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Popular dissatisfaction and tensions within the long-ruling EPRDF have led to the rise of a young reformist leader who has begun a course of bold reversals in favor of greater freedom and openness.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
In both Eastern and Western Europe, social-democratic parties have shifted to the center on economic policy, not only sapping the electoral strength of these parties, but also opening up political space for the populist right.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Why do ordinary people vote to return to office undemocratic incumbents? New survey experiments in several countries suggest that many voters are willing to put their partisan interests above democratic principles—a finding that may be key to understanding democratic backsliding.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Autocrats have found a new way to turn citizens against liberal democracy: convincing them that LGBTIQ rights, granted and protected in much of the West, pose a threat to their nation and its values.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Beijing is using red tape, procedural rules, and a little help from its authoritarian allies to strangle NGOs seeking to participate in the world body.