From Politics to Protest
The protests that have been erupting around the world may signal the twilight of both the idea of revolution and the notion of political reformism.
October 2014
Volume 25, Issue 4
India's Watershed Vote
India’s Watershed Vote: Behind Modi’s Victory
India’s sixteenth general election ushered in a new era in the country’s politics, putting Narendra Modi and the BJP firmly in charge. What accounts for the sharp swing away from the long-dominant Congress party?
India’s Watershed Vote: Hindu Nationalism in Power?
Will India under the BJP see a period of renewed communal violence, or will Hindu-nationalist politicians be reined in by constitutional constraints and their desire to stay in power?
India’s Watershed Vote: What It Means for the Economy
Modi promised “good days” to aspiring young Indians, and they voted for him in droves. But he is off to a slow start in carrying out the economic reforms necessary to ensure that better days lie ahead.
India’s Watershed Vote: The Risks Ahead
Will the Modi government focus on the economy, or will it seek to implement a transformational Hindu-nationalist agenda?
Growth, Security, and Democracy in Africa
Democracy’s fortunes rose in Africa in the 1990s, but more recently have been in retreat. The forces of democratic resurgence remain in play, however, as a look at the key case of Nigeria suggests.
Euroskepticism Arrives
Euroskepticism Arrives: Marginal No More
The European Parliament elections of May 2014 were not an “earthquake,” but they did signal that Euroskeptic parties are drawing closer to the European political mainstream.
Euroskepticism Arrives: The Missing Debate
Disagreements over how much power should reside in Brussels must be allowed to become a normal aspect of debates about European affairs.
Indonesia's 2014 Elections
Indonesia’s 2014 Elections: Parliament and Patronage
Indonesia’s 2014 legislative elections went smoothly. Yet the “money politics” that featured so heavily in these contests suggests a grave need to reform the country’s electoral system.
Indonesia’s 2014 Elections: How Jokowi Won and Democracy Survived
Indonesians came close to electing as their new president a populist challenger promising to restore the country’s predemocratic order. Democracy prevailed in the end, but its continued vulnerability was exposed.
External Influence and Democratization
External Influence and Democratization: Gatekeepers and Linkages
Levitsky and Way’s account of linkage and leverage leaves out the key role of “gatekeeper” elites.
External Influence and Democratization: The Revenge of Geopolitics
Advancing the democratic cause is threatening to autocrats, and they will fight back.
External Influence and Democratization: Structure vs. Choice
Linkage and leverage largely reflect long-term structural factors, and only in certain situations can they be affected by policy choices.
Manipulating Term Limits in Latin America
More and more Latin American countries have sought to relax or even eliminate presidential term limits. What are the consequences for democracy?
Flirting with Disaster
A review of The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present by David Runciman.
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Afghanistan, Colombia, Indonesia, Libya, Mauritania, Slovenia, and Turkey.
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilve’s speech in Oslo, Norway; Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech; Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán's shocking speech in favor of an “illiberal” state; an open letter by senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam calling for an end to communism; the inaugural address of Colombian…