1035 Results
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
Europe appeared ready to turn its back on the pessimistic vision of populists—and then Putin upended the continent. A new book may serve as a textbook for progress, or a signpost of democracy’s dashed hopes.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
A review of Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East by Shadi Hamid.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Democracies are grappling with an era of transformation: Identity is increasingly replacing economics as the major axis of world politics. Technological change has deepened social fragmentation, and trust in institutions is falling. As our most basic assumptions come under question, can liberal democracy rebuild itself?
Burma’s democratic resistance has made impressive gains against the country’s corrupt junta. But they need help from the world’s democracies if they are to succeed and create an enduring peace.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, is best known for his eloquent and incisive essays. Two of them are featured here: “Can It Be That the Chinese People Deserve Only ‘Party-Led Democracy’?” and “Changing the Regime by Changing Society.”
The French president risked it all to hand the far right a stinging loss. But the celebration can’t last long. If the country is to avoid greater political chaos, voters must be encouraged to think about broader coalitions that go beyond a narrow left-right divide.
If liberal norms and institutions are to prevail, they need to be defended from the left and the right. | By Ghia Nodia
For years, they were a fringe vote. Now they are broadening their agenda, tapping into voter frustration, and getting Germans to favor them once again. | Michael Bröning
The suffragists imagined that a greater role for women in democratic politics would lead to a more peaceful world. Few realize how right they were. | Joslyn N. Barnhart and Robert F. Trager
Marine Le Pen has remade her image to obscure her far-right populism. There is a real risk French voters won’t see through it. April 2022 By Agneska Bloch On April 24, French voters will go to the polls in a rematch of the 2017 presidential election: now President Emmanuel Macron versus far-right populist Marine Le…
Ukraine doesn’t just deserve EU membership. Its bid could revive and reunify Europe. March 2022 By Oxana Shevel and Maria Popova President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted Ukraine’s formal application to join the EU on 28 February 2022, four days after the Russian invasion began. Zelensky asked for immediate membership under a new special procedure. Many see…
Thailand’s voters — especially its young people — have sent the country’s junta a message: They want change now. But will the military listen? | Dan Slater
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the public to see his efforts to overhaul the Israeli judiciary as a “reform.” But people have seen it for what it is: a struggle over the very future of democracy itself. | Natan Sachs
July 2006, Volume 17, Issue 3
Successfully fighting corruption in developing and postcommunist countries requires far more than instituting best practices from advanced democracies. Corruption first must be properly diagnosed; in some cases it can be effectively treated only by attacking the distribution of power itself.
Bolivia’s Amazon forests are becoming scorched earth, with millions of acres lost each year to raging fires. Worse, this disaster is being caused by a government more interested in corrupt profits than protecting its people and wildlife.
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
Controlling corruption is a huge challenge for Ukraine, especially in the natural-gas industry. The steps needed are well understood, if only the political will to take them can be summoned.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” of European institutions. Nor will it be saved by the democratic mobilization of civil society. Paradoxically, it is widespread disillusionment with democracy—the shared belief that national governments are powerless in the face of global markets—that may be…
April 2007, Volume 18, Issue 2
India's courts have been playing a growing role in the country's political life. Yet even as judicial interventions have become more sweeping, the principles undergirding their legitimacy have become less clear.
January 2007, Volume 18, Issue 1
Those who argue that democracy requires preconditions often cite the example of gradual unfolding set by the established democracies. A glance at history, however, shows that even today's most placid democracies have "backstories" as turbulent as anything found in the developing world today.
