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.

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3,157 Articles
US vehicle is pictured at a military base in Rumaylan (Rmeilan) in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on July 28, 2020. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Still at War: The United States in Iraq

There are both benefits and risks to maintaining a U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Woman looking at cell phone with information on Abortion Pill (RU-486) for unintended pregnancy.

With Roe v. Wade at Risk, Digital Surveillance Threatens Reproductive Freedom

If Roe is overturned, states will likely use sweeping digital surveillance tools to enforce abortion bans.
An European Union Flag decorated on one key of a black keyboard. The European Union Flag is bright blue with yellow stars.

Will the EU’s Digital Services Act Reduce Online Extremism?

The EU's Digital Services Act does not sufficiently address challenges to countering online extremism.
A stack of the book “Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions” by Boyd van Dijk. One book stands upright showing the full cover, which includes an image of an empty hall with raised seating in the back. At the top reads, “The history and Theory of International Law.” The bottom shows the publisher as Oxford.

Review of Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions

Reviewing Boyd van Dijk, Preparing for War: The Making of the Geneva Conventions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).  Boyd van Dijk has written a superb political and legal…

Surveying Evidence of How Trump’s Actions Activated Jan. 6 Rioters

A triangulation of evidence that extremists treated then-President Trump's words as instructions for the events on Jan. 6.
Members of Lebanon's election monitoring association survey the voting process through screens at the foreign ministry in Beirut on May 6, 2022. - Lebanese expatriates cast their votes for parliamentary elections, two years into an unprecedented economic crisis that spurred a mass exodus. It is the second time in the country's history that citizens residing abroad are able to vote for their 128 representatives, in elections set to be held at home on May 15. Expatriates began voting at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) Beirut time on Friday in nine Arab countries and in Iran, while the rest will vote in 48 other countries on Sunday. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

In Lebanon, Elections Bring Cautious Hope – and an Uphill Battle for Reforms

Weakened incumbents and diaspora voting could allow the country to change direction after years of graft, mismanagement, and democratic decline.
A Palestinian woman shows her ink-stained finger as she casts her ballot while voting in the Palestinian local elections in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on March 26, 2022.

Internal Palestinian Divisions and Their Consequences

Recent municipal elections reinforced the political marginalization of already frustrated younger Palestinians.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 07, 2021: Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stand after reading the final certification of Electoral College votes cast in the November 2020 presidential election during a joint session of Congress, after working through the night, at the Capitol on January 7, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress reconvened to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump, hours after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol and disrupted proceedings. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite - Pool/Getty Images)

Trump’s Next Presidential Coup Attempt Could Work

Flawed laws, enacted in 1845 and 1887, create a dangerous opportunity.

US, EU Face Higher Hurdles Now for Action Against Orbán’s Tightening Grip in Hungary

His landslide re-election and Russia's war on Ukraine makes pushback on the region's autocratization harder -- and more needed -- than ever.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee at Hart Senate Office Building on March 2, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. He speaks into a microphone and gestures with a hand.

Facebook Provided Warning to FBI Before January 6, GAO Report Reveals

The GAO report's findings raise questions about statements by FBI Director Christopher Wray in previous testimony to Congress.
A man carries a banner during a demonstration at Ojota in Lagos on June 12, 2021, as Nigerian activists called for nationwide protests over what they criticise as bad governance and insecurity, as well as the recent ban of US social media platform Twitter by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. - Hundreds of protesters gathered on June 12, 2021 in Lagos, a sprawling megapolis of over 20 million people, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images)

What Elon Musk Does Not Get about Twitter and Democracy in Africa

Deferring to local laws to determine the bounds of free speech on Twitter - and Musk has suggested doing - would jeopardize hard-won democratic freedoms in Africa.

How Cambodia’s Human Rights Crackdown Undermines Regional Security

The upcoming White House summit with ASEAN offers a chance for the US to press on human rights abuses and costly alliances with China.
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