January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Citizens across the globe still value democracy, but they have become dissatisfied with the way it is working. A new era of representation is in order — one featuring more diverse leaders, responsive politicians, and empowered publics.
July 2024, Volume 35, Issue 3
Voters in democratic countries often favor political candidates whose relatives were in office before them. When citizens can choose anyone, why in so many of the world’s democracies do they opt for political dynasties?
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
Far-right parties in Europe’s newer democracies have been working hard to appeal to younger citizens, and for good reason: Young people’s shifting values make them a ripe target for the far right.
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
A review of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler, by Peter Pomerantsev.
January 2023, Volume 34, Issue 1
When ordinary voters are given a choice between democracy and partisan loyalty, who will put democracy first? Frighteningly, Europe harbors a deep reservoir of authoritarian potential.
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
The share of Ukrainians who endorse democracy as the best form of government has risen fast in short order, standing now at more than three-quarters. New data reveal a surprising explanation behind this remarkable shift.
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
More than window dressing, public-opinion surveys and elections provide a crucial insight into the Russian people’s relationship with their regime.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
Christian Welzel’s case for a democratic future is based on the mistaken notion that opinion surveys can see the future. It is no more true today than it ever was.
January 2022, Volume 33, Issue 1
The “democratic deconsolidation” thesis is overblown. Emancipative values continue to spread worldwide, and clearly point to brighter democratic days ahead.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
Majorities across the globe claim to support democratic rule, but their definitions of it vary widely. A look at where publics are willing to exchange their democratic principles for better results—and where they will not.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
A Europe-wide study shows that those who back the incumbent are more likely to oppose democratic norms. The effect is strongest among those who favor right-wing populists.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
Authoritarian propaganda and manipulation are leading democratic publics to see foreign autocracies as more powerful than they actually are.
July 2021, Volume 32, Issue 3
The latest survey wave finds Africans with a still-robust demand for democratic governance, unblunted by covid or Chinese influence. Can governments deliver?
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
Recent survey research suggests that most voters disapprove of antidemocratic acts by elected leaders. Yet there are critical exceptions when a significant minority of voters are sympathetic to or even supportive of violations of democratic laws and norms.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
The swelling pessimism about democracy’s future is unwarranted. Values focused on human freedom are spreading throughout the world, and suggest that the future of self-government is actually quite bright.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
In Latin America, greater exposure to social media—and the digital misinformation that comes with it—seems to be bolstering prodemocratic attitudes even as it fuels public distrust in democratic institutions.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
Sub-Saharan African governments are clamping down on media freedom. More surprising is how many of their citizens appear to support this attack on the press.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
Ordinary citizens in East Asia, Latin America, and Africa are increasingly disappointed with democracy and its ability to deliver.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Why do East and Southeast Asia’s autocracies enjoy more support from their publics than do the region’s democracies?
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Three decades after sub-Saharan Africa joined the “third wave,” democracy’s ability to endure has been established in many countries, but its quality remains a grave concern.
July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3
Data from the latest wave of the Afrobarometer survey show that Africans’ demand for liberal democracy remains high. The problem lies in lagging supply.
April 2019, Volume 30, Issue 2
The CCP’s strategies for delivering economic and social benefits without democracy are proving deeply flawed. A particular threat to China’s stability is posed by the country’s restless single males.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
Democracy is enduring in Latin America, but it cannot be said to be prospering. Illiberalism and polarization are rising. Yet core democratic institutions remain firmly in place, and therein lies hope.
October 2018, Volume 29, Issue 4
Public-opinion data from Pew Research Center show that global support for representative democracy is widespread, but often thin. Amid rising economic anxiety, cultural unease, and political frustration, citizens are increasingly open to alternative systems of government.
January 2018, Volume 29, Issue 1
Tunisia is now one of the Arab world’s most democratic countries, but it has also been producing worrisome numbers of recruits for groups such as ISIS. How can this paradox be explained?
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
“Democratic deconsolidation” on the level of attitudes and beliefs is real, and behind it lies a disturbing rise in tolerance for antisocial behavior, especially among the young.
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Read the full essay here. “The pursuit of national glory,” which M. Steven Fish counts among the features of Vladimir Putin’s “populism,” is emerging as central to the regime’s legitimation. Unlike previous instances of patriotic mobilization (around the Second Chechen War and the 2008 Georgia war), the current one appears to have evolved into a…
October 2017, Volume 28, Issue 4
Read the full essay here. The Kremlin’s ability to maintain power and popularity despite an aging leader, an ailing economy, a rallying opposition, and many other domestic and international challenges is puzzling given current theories of authoritarianism. These theories focus on some combination of material interests, institutional engineering, and the charisma and skill of the…
April 2017, Volume 28, Issue 2
Three factors help to explain the historically wide split between the electoral and popular vote counts: economic and political fundamentals, polarization among voters over identity issues, and the sharply divergent ways in which the candidates chose to address these issues.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Political scientists have long assumed that “democratic consolidation” is a one-way street, but survey evidence of declining support for democracy from across the established democracies suggests that deconsolidation is a genuine danger.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
The British decision to leave the EU raises difficult challenges for the still-delicate settlement upon which peace and stability in Northern Ireland depend.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
The British party system is being fundamentally reshaped by the consequences of the British decision to leave the EU, which also threatens to reduce Britain’s influence on the rest of the world.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
Is democratic deconsolidation underway in the United States and Europe? In recent years, support for democracy, especially among millennials, has been dwindling in a number of established democracies.
July 2016, Volume 27, Issue 3
As more and more African presidents attempt to remove or circumvent constitutional term limits, African populations increasingly are mobilizing en masse, at great risk, to defend their constitutions.
April 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2
What does public opinion tell us about Burma’s longer-term prospects for democracy? The Asian Barometer Survey reveals contradictory attitudes regarding democracy and democratic values among the citizens of Burma.
October 2015, Volume 26, Issue 4
Data from the Arab Barometer suggest that Arabs have not rejected democracy. In fact, they still by and large believe in it and want it.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
East Asia’s millennials have grown up in an age of rapid socioeconomic progress, allowing them to become better educated, more urbanized, and more technologically connected than previous generations. Will they use their collective power to become agents of democratic change?
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
In March 2013, Kenyans took to the polls in what turned out to be another disputed election. Why did the peace hold this time, unlike in 2007, and what are the implications for democracy in Kenya?
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Data from the latest wave of the Asian Barometer Survey show commonalities and variations in the sources of regime support in Southeast Asian countries. Most regimes—democracies and nondemocracies alike—draw political legitimacy from perceptions of effective and upright governance.
October 2012, Volume 23, Issue 4
The second wave of the Arab Barometer reveals strong and steady support for democracy in the Arab World but a deficit in democratic culture.
July 2012, Volume 23, Issue 3
After the December 2011 State Duma elections, the Russian opposition and civil society quickly launched large protest rallies in response to electoral fraud.
January 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1
The left-right ideological divide has begun to narrow in Latin America as citizens and leaders increasingly choose a pragmatic approach to politics and embrace the rules of the democratic game.
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
Efforts to do comparative research on political attitudes have been complicated by varying understandings of “democracy.” The Afrobarometer is exploring new techniques to overcome this difficulty.
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
Over the years, the Asian Barometer Survey has yielded some surprising results. A new typological analysis helps to make sense of them.
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
How can Chinese claim strongly to support both democracy and their authoritarian regime? The answer may lie in a Confucian concept of democracy.
October 2010, Volume 21, Issue 4
Arabs express a clear preference for democracy, which they define in ways similar to citizens elsewhere in the world. But their authoritarian regimes are not listening.
July 2010, Volume 21, Issue 3
A new look at the World Values Survey data reveals how the Muslim world’s religious context affects individual Muslims’ attitudes toward democracy.
April 2008, Volume 19, Issue 2
Do young democracies have to "deliver the goods" economically in order to win political legitimacy in their citizens' eyes? Public opinion data from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Arab world suggest some fascinating answers.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
While the people of South Asia, especially those with higher levels of education and exposure to the media, prefer democracy to authoritarianism, they are willing to relax some of the requirements of liberal democracy.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Findings from the Arab Barometer say little about whether there are likely to be transitions to democracy in the Arab world in the years ahead, but they do offer evidence that citizens' attitudes and values are not the reason that authoritarianism has persisted.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
Attitudes toward democracy in Latin America vary from country to country, and within countries between left and right. Public opinion is strongly affected by the success or failure of political leaders in delivering social and economic change.
January 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1
In order for a country to move beyond mere electoral democracy, ordinary people must acquire resources and values that allow them to pressure elites. Human empowerment is essential for the development of "effective democracy."
October 2007, Volume 18, Issue 4
Some skeptics have asked whether ordinary people possess an understanding of democracy that allows them to evaluate it as a form of government. Our research yields three generalizations about popular understanding of democracy.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
The Editors’ introduction to the first of two clusters on “The Democracy Barometers.”
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
East Asia’s “third-wave” democracies are in distress, and the economic success of nondemocratic regimes in the region creates a tough standard for comparison.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
Survey data indicate that Africans support democracy and its formal institutions, but also point to the importance of the informal realm, particularly when formal institutions fail to meet popular expectations.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
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.
July 2007, Volume 18, Issue 3
After a decade and a half, how do citizens of postcommunist Europe now feel toward their new governing regimes?
July 2005, Volume 16, Issue 3
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 2003, Volume 14, Issue 2
What can public-opinion research tell us about the staying power of democracy in the region? Has it passed the point of any possible return to authoritarianism?
January 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1
Despite today’s gridlock, there are grounds for hope in the widespread embrace of democratic ideals by young people.
July 2002, Volume 13, Issue 3
Globalization has fostered the spread of “democracy as procedure,” but it is much less favorable to the spread of “democracy as culture.”
April 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2
A review of Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing. By Ian Buruma.
October 2001, Volume 12, Issue 4
Direct democracy has come in for praise as being closer to the people’s will than representative democracy. A closer look at the sources of public support, however, reveals some surprises.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Democracy by itself does not put an end to injustice or inequality, but it establishes the most favorable conditions for making progress in the struggle to achieve a just society.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Citizens of postcommunist countries not only want to be free to say what they think and to vote their conscience; they also want a government that obeys the rules it lays down and is not steeped in corruption.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Although Africa is a latecomer to democratization, Africans overwhelmingly support democracy, and their conception of democracy is surprisingly liberal.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
Judging from their citizens’ middling levels of support for and satisfaction with democracy, both Korea and Taiwan are still far from democratic consolidation.
January 2001, Volume 12, Issue 1
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.
July 1999, Volume 10, Issue 3
Review of Democracy and Its Alternatives: Understanding Post-Communist Societies, by Richard Rose, William Mishler, and Christian Haerpfer.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
April 1997, Volume 8, Issue 2
Read the full essay here.
July 1995, Volume 6, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1990, Volume 1, Issue 3
Read the full essay here.
Winter 1990, Volume 1, Issue 1
This past spring the world looked on in wonder as millions filled the streets of Beijing and 80 other Chinese cities, defying the Communist regime and demanding democracy.
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.
In many parts of the world, democracy seems to be under threat. Populism is on the rise, as is public dissatisfaction with such key features of liberal democracy as political parties, representative institutions, and minority rights. Even in the long-established democratic regimes of Western Europe and the United States, attachment to democracy is weakening, particularly…
January 10, 2017
