About the Journal of Democracy
The Journal of Democracy is the world’s leading publication on the theory and practice of democracy. Since its first appearance in 1990, it has engaged both activists and intellectuals in critical discussions of the problems of and prospects for democracy around the world. Today, the Journal is at the center of debate on the major…
April 2013, Volume 24, Issue 2
Review Essay: A Voice from the North Korean Gulag
- Carl Gershman
Evidence of the evil perpetrated in North Korea’s prison camps continues to emerge, as most vividly highlighted by Blaine Harden’s Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West.
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: South African President Nelson Mandela’sinaugural speech; Salvadoran president Armando Calderón Sol’s inaugural speech; a presentation speech by Yelena Bonner, the widow of Andrei D. Sakharov.
April 2022, Volume 33, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Excerpts from: letter from the Editors of Novaya Gazeta; Speech by Ukraine’s UN Ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya; statement by former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė; statement by the Russian Anti-War Committee; transcript of an interrogation of an antiwar protester by Russian police; speech by Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky to the U.K. Parliament
July 2014, Volume 25, Issue 3
The Ups and Downs of Islamism
- Tarek Masoud
A review of Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in aNew Middle East by Shadi Hamid.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
India: Running the World’s Biggest Elections
- M.S. Gill
Read the full essay here.
January 2024, Volume 35, Issue 1
Hindu Nationalism and the New Jim Crow
- Ashutosh Varshney
- Connor Staggs
While the histories of white supremacy and Hindu supremacy are different, their political objectives are much the same. The BJP is forging a regime of exclusion and oppression as brutal as the Jim Crow South. Only India’s voters can reverse its advance.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
China in Xi’s “New Era”: The Return to Personalistic Rule
- Susan L. Shirk
After Mao, Deng Xiaoping tried to institutionalize collective leadership,but this did not stop Xi Jinping from grasping all the levers of power.
After Europe: An Interview with Ivan Krastev
Can democratic institutions be turned to exclusionary ends?~Why has the ongoing refugee crisis transformed the politics of Central and Eastern European states—despite the fact that these countries host virtually no migrants?~And what do demographic and generational changes mean for the liberal consensus that emerged in the wake of communism’s fall? In this thought-provoking…
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
The Road to Digital Unfreedom: Three Painful Truths About Social Media
- Ronald J. Deibert
Not so long ago, the internet was being lauded as a force for greaterfreedom and democracy. With the rise of intrusive and addictive socialmedia, however, a discomfiting reality has set in.
October 2021, Volume 32, Issue 4
The Rise of Political Violence in the United States
- Rachel Kleinfeld
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
Why Ukraine Is Critical to Rebuilding Our Democratic Consensus
- Marc F. Plattner
The case for liberal democracy remains powerful. It may get its biggest boost in the near term from success on the battlefields of Ukraine.
April 2015, Volume 26, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: newly elected Sri Lankan presidentMaithripalaSirisena’s campaign manifesto; Newsweek Polska's interview with Boris Nemtsov; opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's statement of innocence issued after the Federal Court of Malaysia upheld his conviction and sentence; a statement issued by UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maina Kiai.
October 2023, Volume 34, Issue 4
How Financial Secrecy Undermines Democracy
- Charles G. Davidson
- Ben Judah
An expansive underworld of hidden wealth lies beneath the everyday economy. This stealth network of tax havens, secret trusts, and offshore accounts is weakening democratic institutions and fueling our worst enemies.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Documents on Democracy
A Hong Kong prodemocracy activist’s statement upon her sentencing; Georgia’s president denounces the election results; Alaa Abd el-Fattah was named Writer of Courage and joint recipient of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize; an open letter for Xu Zhiyong; and a Nigerian senator condemns the arrests of youth protesters.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: The Crisis of Liberalism
- Jacques Rupnik
Thirty years ago in Central and Eastern Europe, belief in an open society and a sense of reasserted national and indeed European identity seemed to go hand-in-hand. But that was then.
April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2
Rebooting Democracy
- Larry Diamond
A review of Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, by Ronald J. Deibert.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: the inaugural address of Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; a statement by Singaporean activist Chee Soon Juan, the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party; a resolution calling for the “International Condemnation of the Crimes of Communist Regimes.”
April 2024, Volume 35, Issue 2
The Liberalism of Refuge
- Bryan Garsten
Liberal societies are those which offer refuge from the very people they empower—through individual choice, mobility, and the possibility of exit. This is the form of liberty that most clearly elevates the liberal project.
April 2020, Volume 31, Issue 2
The Squeeze on African Media Freedom
- Jeff Conroy-Krutz
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.