October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Babel in Democratization Studies
Recent works on regime types have led to confusion and a tendency to overstate the differences between established and newer democracies.
Subject: Democratic transition
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Nepal: Between Dictatorship and Anarchy
Nepal’s people find themselves caught in an ugly struggle between two antidemocratic ideologies—royal absolutism and Maoism. What happened?
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
Ethiopia’s Extended Transition
In May, Ethiopia held its first genuinely competitive elections. The strong showing of opposition parties gives hope for a more democratic future.
October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The Caribbean: Democracy Adrift?
From hurricanes to ethnic and political tensions, the past decade has not been easy for the countries of the Caribbean Community. What does the future hold for these small democracies?
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Transitions from Postcommunism
What made the “color revolutions” of the early 2000s possible? There were 7 factors that allowed for these democratic breakthroughs. Today, Venezuela has 6 of them, and it may soon have the last one it needs.
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
The New Iraq: The Sistani Factor
For the Shi'ite majority and its senior religious leader, the January elections played out against the background of a longing for justice that has deep spiritual sources as well as more recent sociopolitical roots.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
The New Iraq: The Uses of Historical Memory
If Iraq is to become the free and self-governing country that an overwhelming majority of its citizens want it to be, a "useable past" made accessible by historical memory will be vital.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Turkey’s AKP: A Model “Muslim-Democratic” Party?
Is the Islamic-oriented party that has ruled since 2002 really the harbinger of 'Muslim democracy,' or is it something more familiar in Turkish politics: a hierarchical group none too closely in touch with society and overly focused on one man?
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.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Costa Rica: Paradise in Doubt
Once routinely praised as the "Switzerland of Central America," Costa Rica has in recent years begun to show troubling signs of having a political system that citizens feel is not keeping faith with them.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
Promoting Transparency in Angola
Natural-resource wealth has been at the root of Angola's corruption and authoritarianism. By giving leverage to those pushing for reform, however, it has also become a key factor in teh struggle for accountability.
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
The Quintessential Dissident
A review of The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror by Natan Sharansky
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
The Rise of “Muslim Democracy”
The incentives created by competitive elections in a number of Muslim-majority countries are fueling a political trend that roughly resembles the rise of Christian Democracy in twentieth-century Europe
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Challenge and Change in East Asia: Constitutionalism on Trial in South Korea
During the early years of south korea's transition to democracy, expanding popular rule and deepening individual rights went hand-in-hand. But Roh Moo Hyun's presiency has exposed rifts between majority rule and constitutionalism that the country's judiciary is struggling to bridge.
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 End of Postcommunism in Romania
The 2004 elections saw the defeat of the former communists who ruled Romania for most of the period since the fall of communism. Will the country's new, democratic, and pro-European government be able to break with the semi-authoritarian habits of its postcommunist predecessors?
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Lipset’s Legacy
A review of The Democratic Century by Seymour Martin Lipset and Jason M. Lakin.
April 2005, Volume 16, Issue 2
Freedom’s Edge
A review of The Democratic Advantage: How Democracies Promote Prosperity and Peace by Morton H. Halperin, Joseph T. Siegle, and Michael M. Weinstein.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Building Democracy After Conflict: Lessons from Iraq
The U.S.-led reconstruction effort has so far failed to establish democratic institutions in Iraq. But as troubled as that effort has been, it provides valuable lessons for future nation-building endeavors.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Building Democracy After Conflict: Bullets, Ballots, and Poppies in Afghanistan
By mid-2003, Afghanistan appeared in danger of reverting to “failed-state” status. Happily, the resilience of the Afghans plus some policy changes by the United States and its parners have put things on the right track, though daunting challenges remain.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
Building Democracy After Conflict: ‘Stateness’ First
World events-recent, current, and almost certainly to come-drive home the truth that before there can be a democratic state, there must first be a functioning state, period. Creating workable states where they have been destroyed or have barely existed yields to none among the challenges of our time.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
The 2004 Freedom House Survey: Worrisome Signs, Modest Shifts
Modest progress in the muslim-majority countries is complemented by mass mobilization for democracy and freedom in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia ranks as Not Free for the first time since the fall of communism.
January 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1
What’s in Store for China
A review of China's Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead by Bruce Gilley.
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: The Reality of Muslim Exceptionalism
The notion that the Muslim world as a whole does not suffer from a deficit in terms of competitive democracy is apealing, but rests on evidence and assumptions that cannot withstand critical scrutiny.
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.
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Stolen Elections: The Case of the Serbian October
Slobodan Milošević fell in the fall of 2000 after he tried to pervert national election results. He had tampered with elections before and survived. What made 2000 different, and what are the lessons to be learned from it?
October 2004, Volume 15, Issue 4
Witnessing Africa’s Woes and Hopes
A review of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa by Howard W. French.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
Crafting a Constitution for Afghanistan
As 2004 began, Afghanistan approved a new constitution that represents a key step forward in its political reconstruction. But it is not yet clear whether this new constitution will enable the country to surmount the many challenges that lie ahead.
July 2004, Volume 15, Issue 3
South Africa After Apartheid: The First Decade
Over the ten years since its first nonracial elections in 1994, South Africa has seen its democratic order become more firmly institutionalized, even as the electoral dominance of the ANC has continued to grow.
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
Constitution-Making After Conflict: Lessons for Iraq
A through, deliberat, and consultative constitution-making process, which takes account of key lessons learned in other countries, will be essential to the legitimacy of a new Iraqi constitution and to the future of democracy.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
East Timor: Elections in the World’s Newest Nation
East Timor, which emerged from a tragic and bloody past to gain full independence in 2002, offers a factinating case of democratization in a small developing country with a shallow history of democracy.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Exchange: The Czech Past and the Cuban Future
In an exchange of letters, leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya discusses with Vaclav Havel the lessons that the Czechoslovak experience offers to Cubans seeking a democratic transition in thier own country.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Ousting the “Final 45”
A review of Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025 by Mark Palmer.
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Iraq: Setbacks, Advances, Prospects
The stakes are enormous and the challenges are difficult, but a look at Iraq months after the toppling of Saddam Hussein reveals that, despite all the frustrating setbacks, grounds for cautious optimism remain.
January 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1
Europe Moves Eastward
The Editors’ introduction to “Europe Moves Eastward.”
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
A Model for Post-Saddam Iraq
If Iraq is successfully to democratize and an inclusive democratic culture is to emerge, the Iraqi state must be reconstituted as a federal and strongly liberal system and thoroughly demilitarized.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Iraqi Opposition Report on the Transition to Democracy
Representatives of the Iraqi democratic opposition to Saddam Hussein assess what must be done to overcome the legacy of dictatorship and pave the way toward a free and democratic future for their country.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Tibet: The Exiles’ Journey
Almost a half-century after being forced from their homeland, Tibetans abroad, led by the Dalai Lama, have democratized their institutions in hopes that they may one day form the basis for a free and self-governing Tibet.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
Africa: States in Crisis
Democratic and ecnomic development will become sustainable in sub-Saharan Africa only with the emergence of coherent, legitimate and effective states.
July 2003, Volume 14, Issue 3
After the Shooting Stops
A review of "Ending Civil Wars: The Implementation of Peace Agreements" Edited by Stephen John Stedman, Donald Rothchild, and Elizabeth M. Cousens.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard
The Editors’ introduction to “China’s Changing of the Guard.”
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: Authoritarian Resilience
Successful institutionalization will help the regime survive the pressures of advanced modernization and integration with the global economy.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: The Limits of Authoritarian Resilience
The regime has only institutionalized itself partially and temporarily; institutional norms are currently eroding, and this is likely to continue.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: Threats to Party Supremacy
The Communist Party’s adaptation to China’s new social elites will lead to a democratic transition only, if at all, at the expense of regime continuity.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: The Problem of State Weakness
The Chinese state is much weaker than most people realize, which bodes ill for the country’s democratic prospects.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: State Capacity on the Rebound
The Chinese state has become more efficient, constrained, and responsive—improvements that could lay a base for a successful transition.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: The New Inequality
Class politics is an ever more important reality, but the growth of capitalism is not likely to produce pressures for democratization.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: A Volcanic Stability
The outward appearance of a powerful and confident Communist party-state masks a deep crisis.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
China’s Changing of the Guard: Contradictory Trends and Confusing Signals
Political renewal is contending with a process of political decay that has yet to reach an end.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Afghanistan’s Long Road to Reconstruction
To forestall a worst-case scenario, the U.S. and the world must make a deeper commitment to peacekeeping and decentralized government.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The 30th Anniversary Freedom House Survey: Liberty’s Advances in a Troubled World
The largely positive trends indicated in this year’s Freedom House Survey encourage cautious optimism on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
The Deadlock in Iran: Constitutional Constraints
The vast obstacles to democratic reformism include basic provisions in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic itself.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Deliberalization in Jordan
After a decade of partial liberalization begun by the late King Hussein, freedoms are now being rolled back by an anxious regime.
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Latin Democracy, Comprehensively
A review of Democracies in Development: Politics and Reform in Latin America by J. Mark Payne et al.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?
The Editors’ introduction to “Democratization in the Arab World?”
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.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: Depoliticization in Morocco
Since the 1950s, Morocco has engaged in reforms that have established a relatively open political and economic system, but democracy has not gained much in the bargain.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: Stirrings in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia would seem to exemplify full-blown authoritarianism. Yet there are trends pushing the country toward more open politics.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: Emirs and Parliaments in the Gulf
How well-founded are Western concerns that the nascent parliaments of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain will be captured by antidemocratic Islamists and lead to the ‘Talibanization’ of the Gulf?
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democratization in the Arab World?: Yemen’s Aborted Opening
While President Ali ABdallah Salih continues to call Yemen an ’emerging democracy,’ it more closely resembles athe autocracy of the pre-unification North.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Democracy Under Stress in Thaksin’s Thailand
In 1997, Thailand adopted constitutional reforms. Now, five years after the reforms and almost two years into the premiership of Thaksin Shinawatra, we can see the gaps and ironies that the reforms left behind.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Pluralism by Default in Moldova
During the 1990s, politics in the small post-Soviet state of Moldova was more competitive than anyone would have expected. Yet there was less to this surprising pluralism than met the eye.
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Dark Days in Belarus
Why did Belarusians return dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power in September 2001? Could a better-managed opposition campaign have made a difference?
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Post-Election Blues in Ukraine
In March 2002, three-fifths of Ukraine’s voters chose a party or coalition opposed to the overbearing presidential apparatus of Leonid Kuchma, but the antipresidential forces found themselves frozen out in the new parliament.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: In Partial Defense of an Evanescent “Paradigm”
The coauthor of the seminal work on democratic transitions sets the record straight on what the scholarly literature actually says.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: The Democratic Path
The notion of countries being on the “path to democracy” remains valid unless and until they come up with a systemic alternative to democracy.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: Retaining the Human Dimension
Democracy promotion is a cause-oriented mission, but a good deal of hard-headed realism goes into program planning and work.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: Tilting at Straw Men
A leading democracy specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development defends his organization’s approach.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Debating the Transition Paradigm: A Reply to My Critics
The author of “The End of the Transition Paradigm” responds to each of his critics in turn.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Democracy in Real Time
Globalization has fostered the spread of “democracy as procedure,” but it is much less favorable to the spread of “democracy as culture.”
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Nicaragua Votes: The Elections of 2001
The November elections were peaceful and competitive. For the third straight time, voters chose a conservative who embraced democratic liberties.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11
The Editors’ introduction to “Middle East Studies After 9/11.”
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Middle East Studies After 9/11: An Exit from Arab Autocracy
While many experts recommend postponing democratization pending the rise of a middle class, a directly political strategy may well be better.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
The Post-Soviet Puzzle
A review of Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin, by Michael McFaul.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Terror, Islam, and Democracy
Although Islamist terror groups invoke a host of religious references, the real source of their ideas is not the Koran but rather Leninism, fascism, and other strains of twentieth-century thought that exalt totalitarian violence.
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Bulgaria’s Royal Elections
Last year, Bulgarians elected their newly returned former king as prime minister and then, in a shocking upset, ousted their incumbent president. What do these results portend for the future of Bulgarian democracy?
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
Cracks in the Middle Kingdom
A review of Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing. By Ian Buruma.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
The End of the Transition Paradigm
Must countries where authoritarian regimes have fallen therefore be “in transition” to democracy? Many democracy promoters seem to think so. Yet trends on the ground in country after country are raising doubts about whether it is true or useful to think of democracy’s prospects in this way.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
South Asia Faces the Future
The Editors’ introduction to “South Asia Faces the Future.”
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
South Asia Faces the Future: Democracy on Hold in Pakistan
After September 11 and the start of the U.S.-led war on terrorists in Afghanistan, the Pakistani military regime of Pervez Musharraf found itself at the center of world attention. What do these new and dramatically changed circumstances portend for a possible return to elected, civilian rule in Islamabad?
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
The 2001 Freedom House Survey: Muslim Countries and the Democracy Gap
The year 2001 saw modest gains in the strengthening and consolidation of democracy worldwide, but in predominantly Muslim countries—especially the Arab states—the status of freedom and democracy lags far behind the rest of the world.
January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1
What Democracy Can Do for East Asia
The implicit social bargain that carried many East Asian countries through the Cold War has lost its currency. If the peoples of this region are to secure the blessings of peace, liberty, and prosperity in the century ahead, they will need to have a new and explicitly democratic bargain working for them.
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.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup
The Editors’ introduction to “Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup.”
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: The Primacy of History and Culture
The 15 states of the former Soviet fall into three broad categories, largely defined by fault lines of history and culture.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: The Impact of Nationalism
To grasp what is happening in the former USSR, we must examine the types of nationalism that flourish there.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: From Democratization to Guided Democracy
Except for the Baltic states, the countries of the former Soviet Union may be less democratic today than in the last years of the USSR.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: The Advantages of Radical Reform
The failures of post-Soviet reform notwithstanding, serious strides have been made toward economic and political transformation.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Disillusionment in the Caucasus and Central Asia
In the southern reaches of what was once the USSR, democracy seems far off. Can that change?
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Sovereignty and Uncertainty in Ukraine
Ukraine has secured its independence, but remains troubled by slow growth, corruption, and an overly strong presidency.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Russia’s Hybrid Regime
In Russia, formally democratic institutions coexist uneasily with the reality of tightly consolidated bureaucratic and executive power.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Putin’s Path
Although his methods are hardly democratic, Putin’s efforts to strengthen the Russian state may help democracy in the long term.