Introduction
An unexpected wave of democratization reshaped the world not so long ago. Could it happen again now?
An unexpected wave of democratization reshaped the world not so long ago. Could it happen again now?
Across the region, power struggles mask a more fundamental divide over the meaning of the modern nation-state.
In a fifth of the world's nations, people are legally allowed to resist leaders who have overstepped their bounds.
Around the world, the advance of freedom hinges on "swing states." And they're swinging in the wrong direction.
For leaders like Putin, the true threat comes from the forces fighting for democracy in their countries.
Can democracy take root in a predominantly Islamic part of the world? Atlantic contributors from the early to the late twentieth century take up the question.
Is Islam by its very nature antithetical to the development of democratic institutions? A distinguished historian contemplates this difficult question, one whose answer is fraught with consequence for several troubled regions of the world
The global triumph of democracy was to be the glorious climax of the American Century. But democracy may not be the system that will best serve the world—or even the one that will prevail in places that now consider themselves bastions of freedom.
At a time when citizens in Eastern Europe and elsewhere were demanding the right to self-determination and converting their governments to democracies, a social scientist considered the degree to which civil liberties within a democracy require protection.
In the midst of World War II, as China's Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, struggled against Japanese invaders from without and the Communist movement from within, his Wellesley College–educated wife decried the exploitation of China by the West and delineated a vision for a more democratic future.
About a year after the revolutionary overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, Ching Chun Wang, a Chinese railway official and representative of the emergent republic, makes a case for international recognition.
Ahead of a major election, the country is looking more and more like a failed state.
To influence U.S. politics, foreign governments don’t have to hack one party and collude with the other.
The country’s turbulent politics, in perspective
The right has repeatedly acted as a “hinge of history,” one political scientist says.
The story of how the country went from cheap fridges to no food is about more than socialism and corruption.
The greatest challenge facing Emmanuel Macron isn’t ISIS or the economy, but something more basic: governing.
Democracies across the West are vulnerable to foreign influence—and some are under attack.
It’s not about the rise of the far right. It’s about the collapse of both left and right.
Sometimes, it’s not with a coup, but with a vote.
And is Donald Trump one?
In 2016, Russia used the American system against itself.
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee criticizes Donald Trump, and the leader and members of his own party, for mishandling a “grave danger” to the republic.
“Any action by a president, or any result of an election, or any legislation that has proven flawed can be corrected.”
International election observers assess the state of U.S. politics.
What happens if Donald Trump is defeated?
The upside of the endless presidential race
“One of you will not win this election,” the debate moderator told Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. What then?
One theory for why ISIS hasn’t gained traction in the world's largest Muslim-majority country
Where does Turkey go from here?
Critics claim British voters were unqualified to decide such a complicated issue. But democracy itself isn’t the problem.
The U.S. is pressing ahead with its opening to Cuba. What does that mean for democracy on the island?
The desire for theocracy in the Muslim world can be partly understood through the failures of Western secularism.