
South Africa Has Entered a New Era
The African National Congress can no longer call all the shots, and opposition parties will have more sway. Will this lead to a more inclusive democracy or gridlock and division?
3138 Results
The African National Congress can no longer call all the shots, and opposition parties will have more sway. Will this lead to a more inclusive democracy or gridlock and division?
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
Reports on elections in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Chile, Congo, Gabon, Honduras, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Swaziland, Venezuela.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Nayib Bukele has developed a blend of political tactics that combines populist appeals and classic autocratic behavior with a polished social-media brand. It poses a dire threat to the country’s democratic institutions.
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.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
Excerpts from: remarks delivered at a memorial for Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist and human rights advocate murdered in Moscow on October 7; a statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the coup in Thailand; a speech by Felipe Calderón, his first address as Mexico’s president.
January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1
Excerpts from: Organization of American States resolutions on the “presidential coup” in Peru; the report of the Argentinian National Commission of Disappeared Persons.
As 2024 draws to a close, democracy faces urgent threats: increasing aggression from Russia and China, rapidly advancing AI, heightened polarization, and populist leaders in India and elsewhere bending democracy to their will. Here are the Journal of Democracy’s ten most-read essays over the past month.
Vladimir Putin wants to stir patriotic fervor for his war in Ukraine. But most Russians don’t think the war is worth the cost, and it’s putting the Kremlin in a bind.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India has long baffled theorists of democracy. Democratic theory holds that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarchical social structure are inhospitable conditions for the functioning of democracy. Yet except for 18 months in 1975-77, India has maintained its democratic institutions ever since it became independent of Britain in 1947. Over those five decades, there…
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.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
Democracies are under stress, but they are not about to buckle. The erosion of norms and other woes do not spell democratic collapse. With incredibly few exceptions, affluent democracies will endure, no matter the schemes of would-be autocrats.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Excerpts from: Charter 08, an open letter calling for a political system in China based on human rights and democracy; an ECOWAS statement condemning the military coup in Guinea; the inauguration speech of new Ghanaian president John Evans; statements issued commending the conduct of Iraq’s January 31 provincial elections.
Want to distract the public? Little works better than family feuds ripped from soap opera plotlines. That’s how the Marcos and Duterte clans keep people glued to the drama while crowding out democratic reform.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s letter from prison; Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko’s final court statement; the Bletchley Declaration on AI safety and ethics; “An Open Letter to the Presidents of Africa” by Congolese hip hop artist Martial Pa’nucci; a letter from Guatemala’s indigenous ancestral and community authorities; a Chinese blogger remembers Peng Lifa.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Reports on elections in Albania, Azerbaijan, the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Gambia, Mali, Philippines, St. Lucia, South Korea, Thailand.
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.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
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.
April 1993, Volume 4, Issue 2
Reports on elections in Cyprus, Djibouti, Ghana, Kenya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Niger, Senegal, South Korea, Taiwan, Yugoslavia.
The continent’s aspiring dictators are attacking term limits with a vengeance, finding new ways to avoid handing over power. But citizens are overwhelmingly against it — and can help keep their leaders in check.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
Excerpts from: Russian political activist Alexi Navalny’s final appeal of politically motivated defamation charges; Burmese permanent representative to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun’s denunciation of the coup; lyrics of the prodemocracy Cuban rap “Patria y Vida”; an interview with Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine; statement of the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo.