The Cracked Foundations of the Right to Secede
The claim that ethnic minorities have a moral and legal right to secede from states is a dangerous fiction with perilous implications for divided societies.
April 2003
Volume 14, Issue 2
What Is Liberal Islam?
What is Liberal Islam?
The Editors’ introduction to “What is Liberal Islam?”
What Is Liberal Islam?: The Sources of Enlightened Muslim Thought
There is an emerging current of enlightened thought in the Muslim world today, but it is all too often wrongly labeled and poorly understood.
What Is Liberal Islam?: The Elusive Reformation
An “Islamic Reformation” is not a necessary condition for the emergence of democracy in the Muslim world; what is most needed is a political reformation.
What Is Liberal Islam?: The Silenced Majority
Liberal Islam remains marginal because it is politically suppressed; in truth, it represents the predominant political hopes of Muslims around the world.
What Is Liberal Islam?: Faith and Modernity
If they are to understand Islam authentically and to embrace the modern world freely, Muslims must take a new attitude toward their traditions of interpretation.
The Czech Republic’s First Decade
Invited to join the European Union next year, the Czech Republic has a weak governing coalition that faces deep challenges at home.
Slovakia’s Second Transition
Slovakia’s 2002 elections indicate the waning of nationalist authoritarianism and augur well for the consolidation of democracy.
Turkey at the Polls
Turkey at the Polls: After the Tsunami
After enduring years of paternalism punctuated by trauma, Turkish voters have pointed their country in a new direction.
Turkey at the Polls: A New Path Emerges
The recent parliamentary victory of the AKP represents a new political course that holds enormous potential for Turkish democracy.
Latin America's Lost Illusions
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: Dispirited Politics
The strains of economic reform have not increased support for antidemocratic populism in Latin America, but they have led to acute dissatisfaction with democratic governments.
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: The Future of Structural Reform
As Latin America suffers from its worst economic crisis in decades, the reform of political institutions remains the region’s best hope.
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: Decentralization and Political Parties
Decentralization, heralded as a means of increasing state efficiency and improving representation, has fragmented Latin America’s already weak party systems
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: Brazil’s New Direction
The recent election of political outsider Lula da Silva as president is a sign of hope for the future of democracy in Brazil.
Latin America’s Lost Illusions: A Road with No Return?
What can public-opinion research tell us about the staying power of democracy in the region? Has it passed the point of any possible return to authoritarianism?
Books in Review: The Post-Soviet Political Mind
A review of “Conversations with Gorbachev” by Mikhail Gorbachev and Zdenek Mlynár.
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Armenia, Djibouti, Estonia, Kenya, Kiribati, Lithuania, Madagascar, Micronesia, Montenegro, Seychelles, and South Korea.
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: Václav Havel’s last two addresses as president of the Czech Republic; Nicaraguan president Enrique Bolaños’s speech accepting the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Service Medal; speech by Turkish Justice and Development Party chairman (now prime minister) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; inaugural address of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.