July Issue Out Now!

Millions of people across the world are heading to the polls this year to choose their leaders. In many countries, democracy itself is on the ballot. How citizens understand the democratic system and what they want from their governments is at the forefront of politics as never before. In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy, leading scholars discuss what is ailing democracy and suggest how we might begin to cure it before it’s too late.?

Plus:?Why Nayib Bukele’s “iron fist” rule won’t succeed outside El Salvador; how Narendra Modi, despite an election setback, is laying the groundwork for a more illiberal India; and why democracy isn’t always good for LGBT+ rights.

Read the?Journal of Democracy ’s just-released July 2024?issue, available for free on?Project MUSE ?through July 30!

• The “crisis” of democracy is a crisis of representation. The danger posed by some of the new populist parties, writes ?Adam Przeworski, is not that they are antidemocratic, but that they are antiliberal.
• Democracy is on dangerous ground when its fundamental rules become the main point of political contention, argues Michael Ignatieff. This is where we are today.
• Conventional wisdom blames democratic backsliding on democracy’s failure to deliver. Thomas Carothers and Brendan Hartnett show that this is seldom true and often not accurate at all.
• Indian PM Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition won a third consecutive term but not a sweeping victory. The prime minister, Milan Vaishnav explains , is laying the foundation for a new political order that is both more democratic and more illiberal.?
• Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidency in a landslide, stirring fears about the country’s deteriorating democracy. But Mexico’s democratic institutions are resilient, argues Viridiana Ríos.
• Pakistani voters sent a message at the polls in February: They no longer trust the military to be the “guardian of the country.” The generals can no longer escape accountability for their corruption and incompetence, write Adeel Malik and Maya Tudor.?
• El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele’s “iron fist” policies are among the most popular political brands in Latin America. But the very reasons for his success, Manuel Meléndez-Sánchez and Alberto Vergara contend , explain why this approach will not succeed elsewhere. Also in this issue:
• LGBT+ rights are under threat across globe. Kristopher Velasco, Yun (Nancy) Tang, and Siddhartha Baral explain ?how some populist leaders are manipulating democratic institutions to curtail these rights, not enshrine them.
• African social movements are among the most successful at ousting autocrats, writes Zoe Marks. Yet entrenched undemocratic institutions leave these victories vulnerable to reversal.
• What some elites in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand portray as “unity” Duncan McCargo and Rendy Wadipalapa argue is nothing more than a corrupt bargain meant to cheat voters of their democratic right to decide their country’s political future.
• Voters in democratic countries often favor candidates with family ties to former leaders, observes James Loxton. When citizens can choose anyone, why do they opt for political dynasties?

View the full Table of Contents?here .

For more, visit the?JoD Online :

• How Taiwan Should Combat China’s Information War by Tim Niven
• Can Claudia Sheinbaum Emerge from AMLO’s Shadow? by ?León Krauze
• German Voters Trigger a Political Earthquake by Michael Br?ning