Category: Journal of Democracy

What is the Root Cause of Rising Illiberalism?

     

“Explaining Eastern Europe”is the principal theme of the July issue of the Journal of Democracy, which features a cluster of articles on “Explaining Eastern Europe.” The cluster includes four authors affiliated… Read more »

‘One-man Marshall Plan’: Was Soros wrong to bet on liberal democracy?

     

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, philanthropist George Soros [inspired by Karl Popper’s Open Society] poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the former Soviet-bloc countries to… Read more »

Are elected leaders ‘making the world less democratic’?

     

On the surface, recent shifts in governments show precisely what a functioning democracy is capable of—voters dictate what they want at the ballot box, analysts Lauren Leatherby and Mira Rojanasakul write for… Read more »

Sharp power central to China’s ‘superpower plans’

     

As the U.S. retreats, Beijing is talking more boldly about how it wants to change the global order and assert its own values and interests, according to Elizabeth Economy, the… Read more »

Failure to forge liberal middle way still haunts Zimbabwe

     

Pity Zimbabwe. For more than 30 years its people have endured deepening poverty, rampant corruption and systematic human rights abuses, notes Michael Holman, a former Africa editor for the FT:… Read more »

Russia fuels rise of illiberal civil society in the former Soviet Union

     

Disinformation is one of several tools in the Kremlin toolbox as Russia plays a leading role in promoting illiberal, anti-Western and socially conservative civil society groups, popular movements and political… Read more »

The real China model: ‘autocracy with democratic characteristics’?

     

There is a growing fear in the West that developing countries are finding the so-called “China model” more appealing than liberal democracy, notes Yuen Yuen Ang, Associate Professor of Political… Read more »

The Return of Populism, Latin America Style

     

After receding for the past 10 years, populism is making a comeback in Latin America. On June 17, Colombians elected a president from a right-wing populist party. On July 1,… Read more »

Turkey’s election: cause for concern to every liberal democracy

     

With his victory in Sunday’s elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken his place among the world’s emerging class of strongman rulers, nailing down the sweeping powers he has insisted he… Read more »

Why democracy is in trouble

     

  Is democracy in trouble? Nearly 30 years after Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history and the triumph of liberal democracy, this question is no longer outlandish. But current… Read more »