Scholars have paid increasing attention to democratic backsliding, yet efforts to explain this
phenomenon remain inchoate. This article seeks to place the study of democratic …

The institutional turn in comparative authoritarianism has generated wide interest. This
article reviews three prominent books on authoritarian institutions and their central …

Although political violence has been perpetrated on behalf of a wide range of political
ideologies, it is unclear whether there are systematic differences between ideologies in the …

When and why do governments promote women's rights? Through comparative analysis of
state action in seventy countries from 1975 to 2005, this book shows how different women's …

Indonesia's Islamic organizations sustain the country's thriving civil society, democracy, and
reputation for tolerance amid diversity. Yet scholars poorly understand how these …

Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more
frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse? And can it be …

It is widely believed that democracy requires public support to survive. The empirical
evidence for this hypothesis is weak, however, with existing tests resting on small cross …

Several years after the Arab Spring began, democracy remains elusive in the Middle East.
The Arab Spring that resides in the popular imagination is one in which a wave of mass …

Why do Muslim-majority countries exhibit high levels of authoritarianism and low levels of
socio-economic development in comparison to world averages? Ahmet T. Kuru criticizes …

A fresh and illuminating perspective on the surge in religion's political influence across the
globe. Is religion a force for good or evil in world politics? How much influence does it have …