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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 43m

People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier, more educated, and more peaceful societies? On all counts, the answer is yes.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2h

Although an island of stability and democracy in a region often short of both, Costa Ricans’ faith in government is declining as the challenge of financing its costly welfare state grows. This democratic stalwart is no longer immune to the appeal of populism.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 5h

Today, governments can see who buys what, who pays whom, and who donates to which cause. But they cannot easily trace or confiscate Bitcoin. The digital currency offers a lifeline to democratic movements operating in the most repressive places.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 22h

Latin America remains haunted by the specter of “strongman” rule. Term limits have been a way of guarding against this threat, but aspiring autocrats have now found a new avenue to bypass this barrier to power: courts of law.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 1d

Conventional wisdom says that, once in power, opposition parties will return backsliding countries to the democratic path. In reality, not only is this not true, but it is not uncommon for the opposition to adopt the autocratic habits of the regime they replaced.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 1d

Read "The Golden Age of Transnational Repression" by Nate Schenkkan:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 1d

When Israel’s democratic safeguards came under attack, Israeli political scientists felt they had a duty to spread a shared, nonpartisan understanding of the dangers of democratic backsliding. Here is how they organized and reached the public.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 1d

When the Soviet Union fell, Cuba did not democratize but instead was turned into a raw kleptocracy by Communist Party insiders. Decades later, this “mafia” has driven the country into the worst crisis in its history.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 1d

Read "China’s AI-Powered Surveillance State" by Valentin Weber:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "Why Bitcoin Is Freedom Money" by Alex Gladstein:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "AI’s Real Dangers for Democracy" by Dean Jackson and Samuel C. Woolley:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "The Threat to Latin American Term Limits" by Benjamin N. Gedan and Elias French:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "Why Senegal’s Democracy Survived" by Ibrahima Fall and Catherine Lena Kelly:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "Is Costa Rica’s Democracy Failing?" by Forrest D. Colburn and Andrea M. Prado:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations to María Corina Machado on winning the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy in Venezuela.

"We are all necessary, wherever we are...united we are invincible." —María Corina Machado, August 2024 speech

Read her full speech here:
www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/doc...

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "Why Bolivia's MAS Collapsed" by Santiago Anria:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "How Oppositions Turn Authoritarian" by Donghyun Danny Choi and Fiona Shen-Bayh:

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "What Political Scientists Owe Democracy" by Hanna Lerner, Osnat Akirav, Liron Lavi, Yael Shomer, and Gayil Talshir:

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "Cuba's Mafia State" by Juan Antonio Blanco: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 2d

Read "What Democracy Does...And Does Not Do" by Maya Tudor: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 3d

Fleeing the country is no longer enough to keep activists safe from authoritarian repression.

Learn why we're living in the golden era of transnational repression:

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 3d

📚 Read our October issue FREE through October 31!📖
muse.jhu.edu/issue/55657

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 3d

AI threatens to take educated debate and dialogue out of the political equation. Polarization will only become worse, and political bases more hostile toward one another.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 3d

The CCP must decide whether to entrust security decisions to opaque AI systems, which may become difficult to control, or rely on human judgement, where error is inherent.

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Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 4d

Why are term limits important?

Fragile democracies rely on term limits to keep would-be authoritarians from cementing their power and eroding democratic norms over an extended period of time.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

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