Robert Kagan

Robert Kagan is senior fellow with the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. His books include The World America Made (2012) and The Return of History and the End of Dreams (2008).

January 2015, Volume 26, Issue 1

The Weight of Geopolitics

Can democracy prosper when democratic countries are in geopolitical retreat? History cautions against the notion that democracy will inevitably prevail.


Democracy in Decline?

For almost a decade, Freedom House’s annual survey has highlighted a decline in democracy in most regions of the globe. Some analysts say this shows that the world has entered a "democratic recession." Others dispute that interpretation, emphasizing democracy’s success in maintaining the huge gains it made during the last quarter of the twentieth century.