Subject: Violence

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October 2024, Volume 35, Issue 4

How Organized Crime Threatens Latin America

Drug cartels possess the power of militaries, the profits of corporations, and the coercive capacity of a state. They will not be eliminated any time soon. But the region’s democracies can seek to raise their costs, limit their influence, and curb the violence.

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October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4

The Politics of Enemies

Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.

April 2021, Volume 32, Issue 2

Why Freedom Defeats Terrorism

Far from being a vulnerability in the struggle against terrorism, democratic freedoms are key to empowering moderate voices and depriving terrorists of popular support.

January 2002, Volume 13, Issue 1

Reconstructing Afghanistan

A review of Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban by Larry P. Goodson; and Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid.

Democracy and Political Violence

As political polarization deepens in the world’s democracies, political violence is on the rise. And in the wake of these acts, conspiracy theories often bloom. We offer three essays that look at these forces that threaten to upend democracy, and what must be done to overcome them.