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
Norms Watch: Democracy, the Trump Administration, and Reactions to It (July 7-July 14)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest installment of Norms Watch, our series tracking both the flouting of democratic norms by the Trump administration and the erosion of…
Considering the Legal Defenses of the Trump Jr. Meeting
A number of good legal commentaries have challenged rushing to judgment on the legal implications of the Trump campaign meeting with the Russian government. It is entirely fair…
What Trump Jr. Did Was Bad, But It Probably Didn’t Violate Federal Campaign Finance Law
The disclosure of emails documenting Donald Trump, Jr.’s arrangement of a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskay has lots of people asking whether he or the Trump campaign violated…
Voter Access, Not Voter Fraud, Is A Pressing National Security Issue
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity — a body set up by President Donald Trump to investigate “the registration and voting processes used in Federal…
The Call is Coming from Inside the House — Homegrown Extremism is Here
Much of our nation’s focus on preventing terrorist attacks has been on our borders, but, in fact, violent extremists are already here. It is like those old horror movies, where…
The Smoking Gun for Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump Campaign Committee
On Saturday, the New York Times broke the news of a previously unreported Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 between a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., Trump…
Explainer: The Special Counsel Investigation
All eyes are on Robert Mueller. In May, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed the former FBI Director as special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice’s Russia…
The Trump Administration Provides One More Reason to Discontinue CVE
In a post last week, Steve Weine celebrated the fact that the Obama administration’s countering violent extremism (CVE) program was still alive. In his view, “national security…
Just Security’s Reading List for Trump Jr.’s Meeting With the Russian Lawyer
Not Just a Personal Problem for Trump Jr.–Now Trouble for the Trump Campaign and Trump Sr. by Bob Bauer Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 12:11 PM The Media Is Not Asking the Right…
Not Just a Personal Problem for Trump Jr.–Now Trouble for the Trump Campaign and Trump Sr.
There is an impression developing in the current reporting that somehow Donald Trump Jr.’s emails and activities may be primarily a personal problem. But he was, of course, an…
The Media Is Not Asking the Right Questions on Trump Jr. Emails and Meeting with the “Russian Government Lawyer”
The media is, in large part, missing the point when it comes to the news about Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Vesilnitskaya and should be…
As Collusion Evidence Emerges, Obstruction Allegations Begin To Look More Damaging
The criminal investigations of the Trump administration seem largely to have followed two separate paths: on the one hand, whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign…