July 2023, Volume 34, Issue 3
Making Liberalism Work
Democratic capitalism is in crisis. But if we are looking to salvage liberalism’s ideals, we should look to the course set by postwar Germany. It offers powerful lessons for the present.
Subject: Political theory
October 2022, Volume 33, Issue 4
The Politics of Enemies
Democracy’s meaning has always been contested. Letting that struggle become a battle between existential foes risks upending the whole democratic project.
July 2022, Volume 33, Issue 3
Cancel Toqueville?
Does the author of the nineteenth-century classic, Democracy in America, still matter?
January 2021, Volume 32, Issue 1
Is Meritocracy Just?
A review of The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel.
July 2020, Volume 31, Issue 3
The Enduring Vulnerability of Liberal Democracy
Liberal democracy has drawn its share of false indictments. But like any form of government, it has genuine weaknesses that can at best be managed. How well liberals navigate these inherent tensions may help determine the future of freedom.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
Democracy’s Inevitable Elites
Robert Michels’s classic work on the “iron law of oligarchy” can help us to understand why there is so much dissatisfaction with representative democracy.
January 2020, Volume 31, Issue 1
The Rise and Fall of Good-Governance Promotion
Anticorruption has become universally accepted as a norm; that may tell us something about why it struggles in practice.
January 2019, Volume 30, Issue 1
Illiberal Democracy and the Struggle on the Right
At present, the key struggle for the future of liberal democracy appears as if it will be unfolding among parties and thinkers on the right.
July 2018, Volume 29, Issue 3
Explaining Eastern Europe: The Crisis of Liberalism
Thirty years ago in Central and Eastern Europe, belief in an open society and a sense of reasserted national and indeed European identity seemed to go hand-in-hand. But that was then.
April 2018, Volume 29, Issue 2
The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy
Across the West, economic, demographic, and cultural shifts have spurred the rise of populists who embrace majoritarianism and popular sovereignty while showing little commitment to constitutionalism and individual liberty.
January 2017, Volume 28, Issue 1
Two Traditions of Liberalism
A review of The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty: A View from Europe by João Carlos Espada.
October 2015, Volume 26, Issue 4
The Evolution of Political Order
A review of Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy by Francis Fukuyama.
January 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1
Power Failure?
A review of The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be by Moisés Naím.
July 2013, Volume 24, Issue 3
Kishore’s World
The widely hailed writings of Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani, including his latest book, The Great Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World, reveal a remarkably narrow and Manichean worldview.
October 2011, Volume 22, Issue 4
Fukuyama’s Grand Vision
A review of The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama.
April 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2
Tocqueville’s Frontiers
A review of Conversations with Tocqueville: The Global Democratic Revolution in the Twenty-First Century edited by Aurelian Craiutu and Sheldon Gellar and Tocqueville et les frontières de la démocratie by Nestor Capdevila.
October 2006, Volume 17, Issue 4
Exchange: Mistaking Data for “Theory”
We should neither be too hasty to discount the prodemocratic political ferment in the Arab world, nor be fooled into thinking that Islamist groups will play a constructive part in democratic transitions.
April 2006, Volume 17, Issue 2
The History of a Word
A review of Setting the People Free: The Story of Democracy, by John Dunn
October 2002, Volume 13, Issue 4
Flogging a Dead God?
A review of Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism by Joshua Muravchik.
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Democracy in the World—Tocqueville Reconsidered
The Editors’ introduction to “Democracy in the World.”
January 2000, Volume 11, Issue 1
Postmodern Prophet: Tocqueville Visits Vegas
Read the full essay here.
October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Liberalism of Sorts
A review of After 1989: Morals, Revolution, and Civil Society, by Ralf Dahrendorf.
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
Surveying Postmaterialism
A review of Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies, by Ronald Inglehart.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
Will China Democratize? Sources of Resistance
Read the full essay here.
January 1998, Volume 9, Issue 1
A Solid Smorgasbord
A review of Democracy’s Victory and Crisis, edited by Axel Hadenius.
October 1997, Volume 8, Issue 4
After Twenty Years: The Future of the Third Wave
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
The Rise of Election Monitoring: What Makes Elections Free and Fair?
Read the full essay here.
July 1997, Volume 8, Issue 3
The East Asian Prospect: The Illusion of Exceptionalism
Read the full essay here.
April 1997, Volume 8, Issue 2
Clarifying Consolidation
A review of Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe, by Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan.
January 1997, Volume 8, Issue 1
Democracy and Liberty: The Cultural Connection
Read the full essay here.
October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4
Democratic Consolidation–Debate: Illusions and Conceptual Flaws
Read the full essay here.
October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4
Two Views of Liberalism
A review of Enlightenment’s Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Modern Age, by John Gray and An Intellectual History of Liberalism, by Pierre Manet.
October 1996, Volume 7, Issue 4
Latin America’s Parties
A review of Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America, edited by Scott Mainwaring and Timothy R. Scully.
July 1996, Volume 7, Issue 3
Crafting Constitutions
A review of Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives and Outcomes, by Giovanni Sartori.
July 1996, Volume 7, Issue 3
Grappling with Legitimacy
A review of Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority, edited by Muthiah Alagappa.
April 1996, Volume 7, Issue 2
Opening the Economic Mind
A review of Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, by Francis Fukuyama.
October 1995, Volume 6, Issue 4
The History of the Word “Democracy” in France
Read the full essay here.
April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2
Constitutional Engineering in Southern Africa
Read the full essay here.
April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2
Parliaments Over Presidents
A review of The Failure of Presidential Democracy, edited by Juan J. Linz and Arturo Valenzuela.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Democracy’s Future: More Liberal, Preliberal, or Postliberal?
Read the full essay here.
January 1995, Volume 6, Issue 1
Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital
Something happened in America starting in the mid-to-late twentieth century to diminish civic engagement and social connectedness. What could that “something” be? Why were fewer and fewer Americans going the polls, the pews, and town halls?
October 1994, Volume 5, Issue 4
Economic Reform and Democracy
The Editors’ introduction to the Journal of Democracy’s special issue on “Economic Reform and Democracy.”
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Rethinking Civil Society: Toward Democratic Consolidation
What makes civil society best able to help democracy emerge and endure?
July 1994, Volume 5, Issue 3
Conceptions of Civil Society
A review of The Idea of Civil Society, by Adam B. Seligman and Civil Society and Political Theory, by Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato.
April 1994, Volume 5, Issue 2
The Key Role of the Working Class
A review of Capitalist Development and Democracy, by Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens, and John D. Stephens.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
The Road from Athens
A review of Democracy: The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993, edited by John Dunn.
January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1
The Role of Elites
A review of Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe, edited by John Higley and Richard Gunther.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
International Organizations & Democracy: Toward a Global “Guarantee Clause”
Read the full essay here.
July 1993, Volume 4, Issue 3
Philosophy and Democracy
A review of The Ennobling of Democracy: The Challenge of the Postmodern Age, by Thomas Pangle.
April 1993, Volume 4, Issue 2
Reflections on Capitalism, Socialism & Democracy
Read the full essay here.
January 1993, Volume 4, Issue 1
Choosing an Electoral System: The Primacy of the Particular
Read the full essay here.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
The Editors’ introduction to the Journal of Democracy‘s special issue marking the fiftieth anniversary of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
The Uncertain Triumph of Democratic Capitalism
Read the full essay here.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Marx, Schumpeter, and the East Asian Experience
Read the full essay here.
July 1992, Volume 3, Issue 3
Capitalism & Democracy: The Missing Link
Most highly developed societies are also stable democracies. Capitalism and democracy reinforce one another and promote a desire for universal recognition.
April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2
Problems of Postcommunism: Civil Society Then and Now
Read the full essay here.
April 1992, Volume 3, Issue 2
Exploring the End of History
A review of The End of History and the Last Man, by Francis Fukuyama.
Fall 1991, Volume 2, Issue 4
Political Corruption: Historical Conflict and the Rise of Standards
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3
Debate—Proportional Representation: The Problem with PR
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3
Debate—Proportional Representation: PR and Democratic Statecraft
Read the full essay here.
Summer 1991, Volume 2, Issue 3
Debate—Proportional Representation: Double-Checking the Evidence
Read the full essay here.
Winter 1991, Volume 2, Issue 1
The First Democracy
A review of Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, by Donald Kagan.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Debate—Presidents vs. Parliaments: Comparing Democratic Systems
Read the full essay here.
Fall 1990, Volume 1, Issue 4
Debate—Presidents vs. Parliaments: The Centrality of Political Culture
Read the full essay here.