Articles & Multimedia

Showing 1-12 of 12 Publications

• Commentary
  • The Conversation
  • January 30, 2024
  Why Trump’s control of the Republican Party is bad for democracy

  As former President Donald Trump edges closer to clinching the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, our political science research has shown that a second Trump preside...

  By Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • Foreign Affairs
  • June 20, 2023
  The Treacherous Path to a Better Russia

  The first barrier to a post-Putin Russia is, of course, Putin himself....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz

• Commentary
  • Foreign Affairs
  • March 23, 2023
  Putin’s Forever War

  More than a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a grim reality has settled in: the war will not end soon. Despite the heavy fighting in and around the eastern city of Bak...

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz

• Commentary
  • Democracy Paradox
  • February 7, 2023
  Personalist Strongmen: Challenges and Trends

  Personalist authoritarianism is harmful to global democracy, as these regimes are the least likely form of dictatorship to democratize upon their collapse....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz

• Commentary
  • The Washington Post
  • October 4, 2022
  In El Salvador and Elsewhere, Leaders Find Ways to Break Term Limits

  Limits to executive time in office help ensure regular, institutionalized rotation of leadership....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica Frantz & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • Politico
  • May 5, 2022
  Is Russia Better Off Without Putin? The Answer is Changing.

  To figure out whether we would be better off without Putin, though, we first need to weigh something else: How would Putin’s departure from power affect Russia? Would a leader...

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz

• Commentary
  • The Washington Quarterly
  • April 22, 2022
  After Putin: Lessons from Autocratic Leadership Transitions

  It is now impossible to imagine that there could be any substantive improvement in US-Russia relations while Putin remains in power....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz

• Commentary
  • Journal of Democracy
  • July 15, 2021
  How Personalist Politics is Changing Democracies

  This rapid increase is alarming: Personalist rule brings with it a host of negative outcomes compared to other types of authoritarian systems....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Carisa Nietsche, Erica Frantz & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • Foreign Policy
  • March 9, 2021
  All Politics Is Personalized

  Leaders are amassing more power relative to their political parties so politics more strongly reflects the leader’s preferences rather than being a bargaining process among mu...

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica Frantz & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • V-Dem Institute
  • March 1, 2020
  Digital Repression in Autocracies

  Repression is a hallmark feature of authoritarian rule. It raises the costs of disloyalty and makes it more difficult for groups to mobilize against the regime (Wintrobe, 1998...

  By Erica Frantz, Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • Foreign Affairs
  • February 6, 2020
  The Digital Dictators

  Rapid technological change will likely produce a cat-and-mouse dynamic as citizens and governments race to gain the upper hand....

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica Frantz & Joseph Wright

• Commentary
  • The Washington Post
  • June 5, 2019
  Why the fragmentation of European politics could bode poorly for democracy

  After last week’s elections, the European Parliament is more fragmented than ever — growing discontent with the mainstream meant that centrist and mainstream parties took a be...

  By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica Frantz & Joseph Wright