January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
How to Confront No Ordinary Danger
Climate change is an urgent and unparalleled threat. Our best hope lies in radical, principled activism — at once more democratic and more authoritarian.
More from Our January Issue
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
A Strange Defense of Climate Democracy
The democracy versus “eco-authoritarianism” dilemma is false. The answer is more and better democracy.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
The Perils of Climate Alarmism
Democracies — facing gridlock and polarization — often fall short. But it should be remembered that dictatorships do even more harm.
January 2025, Volume 36, Issue 1
Confronting Our Common Enemy
Regime type is important, but it is the power of the fossil-fuel industry in both autocracies and democracies that is blocking the green transition globally.
Latest Online Exclusives
Botswana’s Misunderstood “Miracle” | Samuel Anim
The country’s 2024 presidential contest was a big surprise, as voters elected a new party for the first time. Despite decades of dominant-party rule, a strong democratic culture has long been ingrained in Botswana.
Why Climate Action Demands Democracy | Stephen Gardiner
Looming “catastrophe” must not be used to justify authoritarianism. Solutions premised on unchecked power would bring their own risks of catastrophe.
Is Ukraine Too Corrupt to Join the EU? | Maria Popova
Despite the country’s steady progress fighting corruption, even in wartime, skeptics warn it’s not enough. But this is just an excuse. Their real concern is how Putin’s Russia would respond.
News & Updates
How Maduro Stole Venezuela’s Vote
January 2025
Today, President Nicolás Maduro will take the oath of office, despite a clear defeat in the July election. In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, Javier Corrales and Dorothy Kronick explain how this came to pass.
Three Must-Reads from the January Issue!
January 2025
Should Ukraine end the war with Russia at the bargaining table or in the trenches? Can democratic institutions survive when they empower minorities over the majority? Is democracy better suited than authoritarianism to confront climate change? The new issue of the Journal of Democracy provides key insights and answers to some of today’s most pressing…
Most Read
The Rise of Political Violence in the United States
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
What Putin Fears Most
Forget his excuses. Russia’s autocrat doesn’t worry about NATO. What terrifies him is the prospect of a flourishing Ukrainian democracy.
Why Ukraine Shouldn’t Negotiate with Putin
Many pundits cry for a negotiated settlement to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. But they misunderstand Vladimir Putin’s motives. The only just end to the war will be in the trenches, not at the bargaining table.
On Democratic Backsliding
Old-fashioned military coups and blatant election-day fraud are becoming mercifully rarer these days, but other, subtler forms of democratic regression are a growing problem that demands more attention.
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