Democracy & Rule of Law
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis on threats and challenges to democracy and the rule of law in the United States and globally. Coverage includes analysis of the separation of powers, good governance, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, judicial independence, freedom of the press and association, and accountability for rule of law violations.
3,152 Articles
What Fuels Autocracies Fuels Corruption
Hungary and Brazil aren’t outliers: Leaders in China, Bolivia, Cambodia, India, and elsewhere are using sweeping measures — some of them newly implemented — to restrict civil…
If We Could See Ourselves from the Outside
Can a change of perspective dislodge the assumed inevitability of an enduring democracy?
The U.S. Constitution and Limits on Detention and Use of Force in Handling Civil Unrest
Under what circumstances may the government use lethal and non- or lesser-lethal force in the face of unlawful protests, riots, and looting?
The Military Justice Dimension: Constraints on Military Personnel in Handling Civil Unrest
Top Expert Backgrounder: How the code of military justice applies to National Guard and other military personnel responding to protests. What must they do if the president issues…
Trump’s Moves Are Right Out of the Authoritarian Playbook
Trump's recent actions may be of a man fearful of looking weak to the world, but they are also redolent of how authoritarian regimes in countries the world over have responded…
Invoking “Terrorism” Against Police Protestors
"The invocation of 'terrorism' to respond to Antifa—and those protesting police violence more generally—has real consequences even if it does not create new legal powers."
The President and the Domestic Deployment of the Military: Answers to Five Key Questions
Can President Trump use the military without governors' consent? What are the rules for the use of force?
White Supremacist Infiltration of US Police Forces: Fact-Checking National Security Advisor O’Brien
What the available research says about systemic discrimination in law enforcement as well as links to racist and white supremacist ideology.
Don’t Let Trump Say the “American Carnage” of 2020 is What He Claimed in 2016. It’s Not.
The violence we’re seeing right now is not the so-called “American carnage” President Trump described in 2016 as he simultaneously claimed only he could lead the country…
Far-Right Infiltrators and Agitators in George Floyd Protests: Indicators of White Supremacists
Evidence points to specific White Supremacist and far-right groups having infiltrated George Floyd protests, writes scholar of violent extremism, Georgia State University professor…
Trump’s Empty “Withdrawal” from the World Health Organization
WHO withdrawal can't take legal effect until mid-2021 per federal law. That plus other formidable legal obstacles may yet stand in Trump's way.
Understanding the Michael Flynn Case: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff, and the Proper from the Improper
What follows is an effort to identify and evaluate many of the most important aspects of the Flynn affair, roughly in chronological order from the Summer of 2016 to today.