Political parties are one of the core institutions of democracy. But in democracies around the world--rich and poor, Western and non-Western--there is growing evidence of low or declining public confidence in parties. In membership, organization, and popular involvement and commitment, political parties are not what they used to be. But are they in decline, or are they simply changing their forms and functions? In contrast to authors of most previous works on political parties, which tend to focus exclusively on long-established Western democracies, the contributors to this volume cover...

The latest volume in this popular series focuses on the best ways to evaluate and improve the quality of new democratic regimes. The essays in part one elaborate and refine several themes of democratic quality: the rule of law, accountability, freedom, equality, and responsiveness. The second part features six comparative cases, each of which applies these thematic elements to two neighboring countries: Brazil and Chile, South Africa and Ghana, Italy and Spain, Romania and Poland, India and Bangladesh, and Taiwan and Korea.

Contributors: David Beetham, University of Leeds;...

The newest volume in the acclaimed Journal of Democracy series examines the state of India's democracy. As India marks its sixtieth year of independence, it has become an ever more important object of study for scholars of comparative democracy. It has long stood out as a remarkable exception to theories holding that low levels of economic development and high levels of social diversity pose formidable obstacles to the successful establishment and maintenance of democratic government.

In recent decades, India has proven itself capable not only of preserving democracy, but of...

Since its inception, the Journal of Democracy has served as the premier venue for scholarship on democratization. The newest volume in the acclaimed Journal of Democracy book series, Democracy: A Reader brings together the seminal works that have appeared in its pages in nearly twenty years of publication.

Democracy is in retreat around the world, giving renewed relevance and urgency to fundamental questions about the system that nevertheless remains the ideal standard of governance. Contributors ask: What exactly is democracy, and what sustains it? What...

At a time when democracy seems to be in retreat in many parts of the world, Africa presents a more mixed picture. A number of African countries have been convulsed by high-profile crises, while others have quietly continued making progress on the difficult path toward democratic stability.

Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat brings into focus the complex landscape of African politics by pairing broad analytical surveys with country-specific case studies--most previously published in the Journal of Democracy and all written by prominent Africanists with...

For more than twenty years, the Journal of Democracy has been a leading voice in the conversation between scholars and practitioners about government by consent and its place in the contemporary world.

If democracy means anything, it means robust debates. Over the years, the pages of the Journal have certainly seen their share of lively and illuminating scholarly disagreements. As a service to students and teachers who wish to deepen their understanding of the questions and controversies that surround contemporary democratization, the Journal has now brought...

Beginning in December 2010, a series of uprisings swept the Arab world, toppling four longtime leaders and creating an apparent political opening in a region long impervious to the -third wave- of democratization. Despite the initial euphoria, the legacies of authoritarianism--polarized societies, politicized militaries, state-centric economies, and pervasive clientelism--have proven stubborn obstacles to the fashioning of new political and social contracts. Meanwhile, the strong electoral performance of political Islamists and the ensuing backlash in Egypt have rekindled arguments about...

For almost a decade, Freedom House's annual survey has highlighted a decline in democracy in most regions of the globe. While some analysts draw upon this evidence to argue that the world has entered a -democratic recession, - others dispute that interpretation, emphasizing instead democracy's success in maintaining the huge gains it made during the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Discussion of this question has moved beyond disputes about how many countries should be classified as democratic to embrace a host of wider concerns about the health of democracy: the poor economic...