January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Getting to Arab Democracy: Lebanon Springs Forward
Taking advantage of the withdrawal of Syrian troops, Lebanese voters capped the "Beirut Spring" by electing a new majority in parliament.
Subject: Civil society
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
The 2005 Freedom House Survey: Progress in the Middle East
The gains for freedom in the Middle East were the most significant seen since the Freedom House survey began in 1972.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Burundi’s Transition: Training Leaders for Peace
Burundi's leaders are learning to embrace a culture of discussion and consensus that offers a way out of the abyss of civil war.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
The Surprising Significance of African Elections
Data from Africa show that repeated elections, regardless of their relative freeness or fairness,appear to have a positive impact on the growth of civil liberties and democratic values.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Measuring Public Integrity
Measurements that rely on perceptions of corruption can be misleading. What is needed is a method of gauging how well a country has set itself up to defend public integrity systematically and in all its dimensions.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
International Linkage and Democratization
The role of international factors varied greatly across the post-Cold War transitions to democracy, but the intensity and results of external democratizing pressure depended on two variables: linkage to the West and Western leverage.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
The New Iraq: Democratic Institutions and Performance
Even after its successful elections, Iraq remains a divided society. Democracy did not create these divisions, but it could be the key to managing them.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Gauging Arab Support for Democracy
Despite some moves toward liberalization in the past three decades, all Arab-majority countries remain authoritarian. Nonetheless, opinion surveys show that popular support for democracy in this part of the world is high.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: Taiwan’s Year of Stress
Thanks to a disputed presidential election and a narrowly divided parliament, Taiwan's politics remains tense. Yet the worst of the conflicts that gripped the island seem to have eased, and the difficult political events of the last few years may have some beneficial effects after all.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: “Business Populism” in Thailand
Recently reelected premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his "Thais Love Thais" party offer a fusion of populist rhetoric with policies that serve the interests of the Thai business class.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: Indonesia’s Quest for Accountable Governance
Despite the tsunami tragedy, Indonesians at least can look back on the political events of 2004 with pride. Their country successfully held three major elections and produced a legitimate government. Now the main challenge is to secure regular governmental accountability.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: Is Democracy the Only Game in Town?
In three of the six democracies surveyed by the East Asia Barometer, a majority of respondents prefer democracy to its alternatives. In the other three, however, a lingering nostalgia for authoritarianism stands in the way of democratic consolidation.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: Facing the Perils of Presidentialism
Juan Linz’s 1990 critique of presidentialism in these pages was based largely on the Latin American experience. In the last few years, however, four new Asian democracies have encountered presidential crises. Does Linz’s work hold the secret to what has been ailing these regimes?
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution: The Opposition’s Road to Success
Ukraine's opposition had been trying to oust President Leonid Kuchma's semi-authoritarian regime since its alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgi Gongadze in 2000. What brought success in 2004?
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Ukraine’s Orange Revolution: Kuchma’s Failed Authoritarianism
Desperate to secure victory for its own candidate in the 2004 presidential election, the incumbent regime undertook an unprecedented campaign of blatant election fraud. But it had underestimated the citizenry that it was trying to deceive.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
The Coalition for a Clean Parliament
This report is by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, president of the Romanian Academic Society, who heads the Coalition for a Clean Parliament.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The Quality of Democracy: Freedom as the Foundation
Freedom has always been integral to democracy. How to guard liberty is a question every democratic regime must answer.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The Quality of Democracy: Addressing Inequality
Democracy requires robust political equality, but the persistence of social, economic and cultural inequality complicates its realization.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Debate: The Persistence of Arab Authoritarianism
The lack of democracy in the Arab world is a problem that goes far beyond the absence of competitive elections. This lack must be traced not to religion or culture, but to adverse historical and geostrategic circumstances.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Debate: Arab, Not Muslim, Exceptionalism
Muslim-majority, non-Arab countries are “overachievers” at electoral competitiveness. Arab countries, by contrast, constitute a distinctive political community that at present is inhospitable to competitive elections.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
The “Alteration Effect” in Africa
Surveys show that Africans’ commitment to democracy fades over time, but also that their support can be refreshed by alternations in power via elections.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Russian Democracy in Eclipse: What the Polls Tell Us
The first flush of democratic hopes has faded, as the recent elections have emphasized. But the democratic idea has a foothold, and the presidential machine that swept those elections will not have an easy time retaining its sway.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Russian Democracy in Eclipse: The Next Generation
Hopes for democratization now rest on the shoulders of the young. Who are they, what do they believe, and what are their political leanings? Survey data offer some clues.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
What Makes Democracies Collapse?
A review of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times: The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy by Nancy Bermeo.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
The Imperative of State-Building
Weak or failed states are at the root of many serious global problems, from poverty and AIDS to drug trafficking and terrorism, to the failure of democratic government itself. State-building must become a priority for the world community.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Christianity and Democracy: The Pioneering Protestants
Historical and other evidence from around the world suggests that Protestantism has helped to create a web of mediating factors—from higher literacy to lower corruption to active civic groups—that encourage self-government.
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
The 2003 Freedom House Survey: National Income and Liberty
Despite the threats posed by terrorism, 2003 saw a second consecutive year of significant momentum of freedom, and showed encouraging evidence that political rights and civil liberties can endure despite economic privation.
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Indonesia’s Approaching Elections: Politics, Islam, and Public Opinion
In the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, a dense and pervasive network of moderate Muslim civil society organizations significantly reinforces political moderation and limiting the appeal of radical Islamism.
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Research Report: Does Diversity Hurt Democracy?
It has been claimed in the pages of this journal that a homogeneous society is an advantage when it comes to democratization. How might this suggestion be empirically tested, and with what (perhaps preliminary) results?
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Putin’s Deep Freeze
A review of Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 by Timothy J. Colton and Michael McFaul; Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State by David Satter; and Putin's Russia by Lilia Shevtsova.
October 2003, Volume 14, Issue 4
Can Democracy Be Taught?
Civic education can enhance democratic values and participation among adults in young democracies, but the training must be frequent and participatory. Otherwise adult civic education may not be worth doing.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Kenya: Third Time Lucky?
After falling short in 1992 and 1997, Kenya’s large but fractious opposition coalition swept to victory at the polls in 2002. Transition has arrived, but can democratic transformation follow?
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: The Decline of Pluralism in Mubarak’s Egypt
Since a tenuous political opening a decade ago, the Mubarak regime has systematically asphyxiated democracy in Egypt.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices
The gravest challenges facing democracy in the Balkans are problems not of ethnicity or postcommunism, but of citizen disaffection and disillusionment.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
Slovenia’s Smooth Transition
The story of this small former Yugoslav republic offers an example of how—if circumstances are right—it may be possible for a country to reform its way out of communism and into parliamentary democracy and a market economy.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
The Weakness of Postcommunist Civil Society
Recent studies suggest that civil society in the postcommunist countries is significantly weaker than in other types of democracies, old or new. Can this legacy of communism be overcome? If not, what are the implications for democracy?
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Going Backwards
A leading Russian oppositionist speaks out against continuing official assaults on self-government and human rights.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
The Chihuahua Strategy
A review of Mexico’s Political Awakening, by Vikram K. Chand.
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Francophone Africa in Flux
The Editors’ introduction to “Francophone Africa in Flux.”
July 2001, Volume 12, Issue 3
Francophone Africa in Flux: Democratization in Fits and Starts
The 1990s began with an unprecedented democratic opening in Francophone Africa. While a number of countries have suffered setbacks and even reversals, others continue to make progress, and popular aspirations for democracy remain strong.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
High Anxiety in the Andes: Bolivia and the Viability of Democracy
One key source of the weakness of democracy in the Andean region is the isolation of the “political class” from the rest of society. There are growing signs that this problem is becoming more serious in Bolivia.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
High Anxiety in the Andes: Crisis and Contention in Ecuador
Massive protest by indigenous groups in both 2000 and 2001 have overthrown one president and weakened another. Though such conflict poses a short-term threat, it may ultimately contribute to democratic development.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
The Return of “People Power” in the Philippines
The mass demonstrations that ousted President Joseph Estrada recalled those that had brought down dictator Ferdinand Marcos 15 years earlier. Yet the return of “People Power” raises some concerns about the health of Filipino democracy.
April 2001, Volume 12, Issue 2
A Peaceful Turnover in Ghana
With longtime ruler Jerry Rawlings obeying constitutional term limits, the opposition won a narrow electoral victory, bringing Ghana its first peaceful transfer of power since independence.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
How People View Democracy: Between Stability and Crisis in Latin America
Across Latin America, public support for democracy has been remarkably stable and consistently higher than satisfaction with the way that democracy works. Low institutional trust reflects even lower levels of interpersonal trust.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Fighting Authoritarianism in Zimbabwe
The stunning defeat of a draft constitution backed by President Robert Mugabe and the opposition’s unexpectedly strong showing in the June 2000 parliamentary elections may have marked the beginning of the end of ruling-party hegemony in Zimbabwe.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
A Reply to My Accusers
An Egyptian civil-society leader responds to the closing down of his organization and the allegations against him by state prosecutors.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing?
The Editors’ introduction to “Is Iran Democratizing?”
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? Observations on Election Day
In hotly contested parliamentary elections, candidates supportive of President Khatami’s reforms won an overwhelming victory.
October 2000, Volume 11, Issue 4
Is Iran Democratizing? The Role of the Intellectuals
The “Fourth Generation” of Iranian intellectuals has a vital role to play in strengthening civil society and fostering democratization.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Arabs and Democracy: The Awakening of Civil Society
While despotic Arab regimes may seem stable, change is brewing beneath the surface. A new era is emerging in which the state will be forced to retreat before a vibrant civil society.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Is Pakistan the (Reverse) Wave of the Future?
Pakistan’s descent into authoritarian rule starkly depicts the “triple crisis of governance” that threatens many third-wave democracies. If these problems of governance are not addressed, a new “reverse wave” of democratization could be imminent.
July 2000, Volume 11, Issue 3
Democratizing Civil Society in Latin America
As the experience of Latin America makes clear, a strong civil society is not necessarily a democratic one. Democratic deficits within civil society jeopardize its ability to perform its proper social functions.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Trouble in the Advanced Democracies? A Quarter-Century of Declining Confidence
A quarter-century after the classic study The Crisis of Democracy was published, three distinguished political scientists find that, though the “crisis” may have disappeared, public confidence is on the decline in almost all the world’s advanced democracies.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Latin America at the Century’s Turn
Recent disappointments have led to excessive pessimism about Latin America’s economic and democratic prospects. International recognition of the region’s diversity and a sense of perspective about its setbacks will improve its chances for further success.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
The “Normalization” of Argentine Politics
The most striking thing about Fernando de la Rua’s presidential victory in Argentina was the routine-even boring-character of the elections. This turn toward normalization is a major break with the past.
April 2000, Volume 11, Issue 2
Democracy, Dictatorship, and Infant Mortality
A country's political regime, regardless of its level of development, affects its social performance. Fewer children die in democracies than in dictatorships.
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Democracy in the World— Tocqueville Reconsidered
The Editors’ introduction to “Democracy in the World.”
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
The Judiciary and the Rule of Law
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
The Indispensability of Political Parties
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Civil Society and the “Art of Association”
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Democracy’s Triumph, Philosophy’s Peril
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Postmodern Prophet: Tocqueville Visits Vegas
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Reflections on the Collapse of Communism
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
The Cultural Challenge to Individualism
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
The Perils of Prosperity
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Compassion and the Softening of Mores
April 1999, Volume 10, Issue 2
The Democratic Invention
January 1999, Volume 10, Issue 1
The Post-Cold War World: Integration and Disintegration
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Mongolia: A Democracy Without Prerequisites
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Teaching Democracy in Postcommunist Countries
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
African Ambiguities: The Rebirth of African Liberalism
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
Poland’s Emerging Party System
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Iran’s Remarkable Election
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Croatia at the Crossroads
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Serbia’s Opposition Speaks
April 1997, Volume 8, Issue 2
Ghana’s Encouraging Elections: The Challenges Ahead
July 1996, Volume 7, Issue 3
The Paradox of Civil Society
April 1996, Volume 7, Issue 2
Civil Society in Africa
April 1996, Volume 7, Issue 2
Opening the Economic Mind
A review of Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, by Francis Fukuyama.
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Civil Society After Communism
The Editors’ introduction to “Civil Society After Communism.”
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Civil Society After Communism: Rival Visions*
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Civil Society After Communism: From Opposition to Atomization
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
The New South Africa: Renewing Civil Society
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Promoting Pluralism in Eastern Europe
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
Uses of “Civil Society”
A review of Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and Its Rivals, by Ernest Gellner.
July 1995, Volume 6, Issue 3
The Western Allies 50 Years Later: Malaise and Resiliency in America
July 1995, Volume 6, Issue 3
Reviving Civil Society in Egypt
April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2
“Civil” and Other Societies
A review of Civil Society and the State in Africa, edited by John W. Harbeson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future: The Primacy of Culture
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future: Between Africa’s Extremes
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Italy’s Civic Divide
A review of Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, by Robert D. Putnam, with Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Y. Nanetti.
October 1994, Volume 5, Issue 4
South Africa Turns the Corner
A review of South Africa: The Political Economy of Transformation, edited by Stephen John Stedman.
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society
The Editors’ introduction to “Rethinking Civil Society.”
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society: Toward Democratic Consolidation
What makes civil society best able to help democracy emerge and endure?
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society: Postcommunism and the Problem of Trust
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society: Russia’s Fourth Transition
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society: Pluralism in the Arab World
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3