Iran in Ferment: The Green Wave
Iran’s massive protest movement against June’s electoral coup is now moving into a new phase. What are its prospects?
October 2009
Volume 20, Issue 4
Iran in Ferment
Iran in Ferment: Cracks in the Regime
The Islamic Republic is struggling, with the Revolutionary Guard Corps more and more the only thing propping it up.
Iran in Ferment: Civil Society’s Choice
When students and other rights activists decided to seize a tactical opening that the regime cynically offered them during the 2009 campaign, they were making a choice that was even more fateful than they knew.
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II)
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Does Electoral Democracy Boost Economic Equality?
The recent global progress of democracy has been accompanied by increasing economic inequality. What are the implications for the quality of democracy and for its ability to endure?
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): Aiding Latin America’s Poor
Latin American social policy has at times worked backwards, widening rather than narrowing economic and social inequalities. But new conditional cash-transfer programs seem to be producing positive outcomes.
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): East-Central Europe’s Quandary
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been struggling to devise approaches to political economy that can bring stability, prosperity, and a measure of equality in a world dominated by global finance and exchange.
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): How Regions Differ
Both Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have undergone significant democratization in recent years. Yet each region retains a distinctive approach, grounded in its own history, to common problems of social welfare and inequality.
India's 2009 Elections
India’s 2009 Elections: A Vote to Stay the Course
Indian voters pulled off a surprise by allowing the Congress party to retain power at the head of a more coherent coalition that is far less dependent on a congeries of small regional parties.
India’s 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
Democracy in India remains robust, but the scope and intensity of the corruption that pervades the political system are steadily eroding public trust.
A New Approach to Postwar Reconstruction
As countries emerge from war and embark on recovery, the risk of corruption is high and the consequences are dire. International aid must be accompanied by an anticorruption strategy that incorporates community-driven accountability.
An Accidental Advance? South Africa’s 2009 Elections
The ANC saw its first-ever decline in vote share in South Africa's 2009 parliamentary elections. Will the ANC heed this warning to mend internal divisions and reconnect with voters?
Tanzania’s Missing Opposition
The country's long-ruling party has never faced a serious electoral challenge—due not only to opposition weakness but also to a deliberate strategy of suppression.
Angola’s Façade Democracy
Parliamentary elections in 2008 secured the MPLA's hegemony and decimated the opposition, while paradoxically increasing the government's legitimacy.
Jordan: Ten More Years of Autocracy
Jordan gets much good press for having one of the more open and liberal regimes in the Arab world, but that reputation masks a considerably grimmer reality.
Escaping the Development Impasse
A review of Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places by Paul Collier.
Election Watch
Reports on elections in Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mexico, and Moldova.
Documents on Democracy
Excerpts from: a statement issued by Iranian opposition candidate Mir Hosein Musavi; the Organization of American States’ resolution suspending Honduras from the organization; UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s message to the fifth ministerial conference of the Community of Democracies; a speech given newly re-elected Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.