January 2016, Volume 27, Issue 1
A Win for Democracy in Sri Lanka
The surprising electoral defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2015 was reinforced by his failed comeback in August parliamentary elections.
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January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1
The Weight of Geopolitics
Can democracy prosper when democratic countries are in geopolitical retreat? History cautions against the notion that democracy will inevitably prevail.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
European Disintegration? Warnings from History
The irony at the heart of Europe’s current crisis is that although the EU originated as part of a post-1945 effort to consolidate democracy in Western Europe, the Union’s travails are now pushing the continent in the opposite direction instead.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
Politics in Crisis?
Although politics today is in critical condition—some even say it is dying—it is all the more important to revive it.
April 2012, Volume 23, Issue 2
Ballots, Bullets, and the Bottom Billion
Does recourse to the ballot box spur violence and instability in the world’s poorest countries? Despite the worries of modernization theorists such as Paul Collier, the evidence indicates that, over time, elections are not associated with higher levels of political violence.
April 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2
Sri Lanka: From Turmoil to Dynasty
Having only recently emerged from a prolonged and remarkably bitter civil war, Sri Lanka is now slipping steadily under the hardening authoritarian control of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family.
January 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1
Authoritarianism’s Last Line of Defense
The new electoral authoritarian regimes of the post–Cold War era have formally adopted the full panoply of liberal-democratic institutions. Rather than rejecting or repressing these institutions, they manipulate them.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Sierra Leone: A Vote for Better Governance
Five years after the close of a horrifying civil war, Sierra Leone held the freest elections in its history. Voters turned out the party that had overseen the war's end, blaming it for having mishandled governance since then.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Exchange: The Sequencing “Fallacy”
Countries taking the initial steps from dictatorship toward electoral politics are especially prone to civil and international war. Yet states endowed with coherent institutions—such as a functioning bureaucracy and the elements needed to construct a sound legal system—have often been able to democratize peacefully and successfully. Consequently, whenever possible, efforts to promote democracy should try…
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
The Democracy Barometers (Part I): The Rise of Populism and the Left in Latin America
By world standards, Latin Americans ideologically are slightly to the right. But their attitudes are moving leftward, a trend with potential implications for democratic stability in the region.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The Debacle in Côte d’Ivoire
Despite hopes that 2005 would see an end to hostilities between rebels and government forces, neither disarmament nor elections took place. How did this once-prosperous country end up on the verge of anarchy and disaster?
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
A Fresh Look at Semipresidentialism: The Russian Predicament
At the end of the Cold War, semipresidentialism became the modal constitution of the postcommunist world. In Russia and other post-Soviet states, however, this system of government has impeded consolidation.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Building Democracy After Conflict: Introduction
In the 15 years since the Journal of Democracy‘s inception, democracy has made extraordinary progress. But no challenge is greater than building democratic institutions in postconflict situations.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Change in Uganda: Museveni’s Machinations
Uganda’a move to a multiparty system is really a maneuver by President Yoweri Museveni to prolong his stay in power beyond the two-term limit mandated by the constitution.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
Latin America’s New Turbulence: Trouble in the “Northern Triangle”
Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are weighed down by high crime, sluggish economies, and heavy reliance on remittances. And when significant political change has taken place, it has resulted in frightening political fragmentation.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Montenegro: The Dilemmas of a Small Republic
October 2002 brought the latest in a series of “critical” elections that have helped to point the way to an independent, more democratic future.
How Women Make the World Safe for Democracy
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.
October 1993, Volume 4, Issue 4
Leopold Labedz (1920-1993)
A memorial service was held on June 15 in Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to Leopold Labedz, who died on March 22 in London. A founding member of the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy, Labedz served as editor of the British journal Survey from 1962 to 1989. Speakers at the service, who extolled Labedz’s lifelong…
How Taiwan Should Combat China’s Information War
China’s efforts to sway the Taiwanese people with conspiracy theories and lies are starting to resonate, undermining their faith in democracy and deepening polarization. In a new Journal of Democracy online exclusive, Tim Niven argues that defending against China’s information war will require tireless resistance from the whole of society.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
The Meddling Kingdom
A review of Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World, by Bethany Allen.