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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3,197 Articles
Sign in front of the Department of State in Washington, D.C. (via Getty Images)

Global Corruption, Local Hypocrisy: The Promises and Pitfalls of the U.S. Combating Global Corruption Act

The Combating Global Corruption Act presents an imperfect but useful opportunity to rebuild the U.S. government’s anti-corruption practices.
Statue Of Liberty

The (Flimsy) Legal Arguments Used to Justify Art Censorship

Liability fears are increasingly weaponized to justify removal of socially engaged art. Treating display as endorsement is legally wrong and culturally corrosive censorship.
The image shows a crowd of demonstrators in multi-colored clothing holding signs, one near the center of the image wearing a makeshift crown.

When Loyalties Shift: Americans’ Growing Noncooperation with Federal Abuses of Power

Americans' refusals to accept apparent abuses of power by the federal government indicate that the political winds may be starting to shift.

Help Support Just Security on Giving Tuesday

This Giving Tuesday, you can help us inform a more just and secure world.
IMAGES (left to right): Natural disaster and its consequences (via Getty Images); In this picture taken on September 28, 2022, an internally displaced flood-affected family sits outside their tent at a makeshift tent camp in Jamshoro district of Sindh province (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP via Getty Images; Trees smolder and burn during the Dixie fire near Greenville, California on August 3, 2021. – Numerous fires are raging through the state’s northern forests, as climate change makes wildfire season longer, hotter and more devastating. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Just Security’s Climate Archive

A catalog of articles analyzing the diplomatic, political, legal, security, and humanitarian consequences of the international climate crisis.
Kenyan youths use mobile phone to record themselves next to a police van

The Global Retreat from Content Moderation Is Endangering Free Expression: Kenya Shows Why

By abandoning proactive content moderation, platforms are accelerating a global slide toward censorship — the very outcome they claim to oppose.
The Just Security Podcast Cover Image

The Just Security Podcast: Is there a Fox in the Henhouse? A Comparative Perspective of State Capture in the U.S.

Dani Schulkin is joined by Naomi Roht-Arriaza to discuss the warning signs of state capture and grand corruption, and what can be done to push back against it. 
Police officers guard as a worker welds a gate to a military court during a demonstration against Israeli military prosecutors on July 30, 2024 in Kfar Yona, Israel. Yesterday, far-right protesters broke into the Sde Teiman compound to show support for Israeli reservists detained over allegations of abusing a Palestinian detainee. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Persecuting the Prosecutors: Israel’s Military Lawyers Under Pressure

The weakening of the Military Advocate General affects the IDF's ability to carry out its missions lawfully, and the broader protection of the rule of law in Israel.
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) presides over the vote for H.R. 1, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act in the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on July 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House passed the sweeping tax and spending bill after winning over fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans. The bill makes permanent President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, increase spending on defense and immigration enforcement and temporarily cut taxes on tips, while at the same time cutting funding for Medicaid, food assistance for the poor, clean energy and raises the nation’s debit limit by $5 trillion. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

How to End the Shadow Budget and Protect Congress’s Power of the Purse

Unless Congress reasserts control over federal spending, the balance the framers designed could collapse into a self-financing presidency.

The “Presumption of Regularity” in Trump Administration Litigation

A comprehensive study of court cases involving the Trump administration from January 20, 2025 to present
A Croatian national flag with its three bands of red, white and blue and a crest in the center, is seen weaving above fans at a concert, amid a smoke-filled, rose-colored backdrop and what look like small fireworks going off.

Normalizing Far-Right Ideologies in the Western Balkans: Croatia’s Role at Home and Abroad

The Croatian government appears to be embracing far-right actions at home and abroad as it undermines neighboring Bosnia's sovereignty and democracy.
Hungarian activists of the neo-Nazi Blood and Honour group hold flags in Budapest 11 February 2006 as participants bring wreaths at the tomb of Unknown Soldier in Heroes Square in Budapest where a German WWII helmet and wood cross were placed. More than 600 people attended the event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the ill-fated escape attempt of Nazi German and Hungarian soldiers from Buda Castle, which was besieged 11 February 1945 by the Soviet Red Army at the end of World War II. (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)

State Dept’s Foreign Terrorist Designations Undermine Claims of “Antifa” Threat

Leading counter-extremism expert unpacks the administration's claimed designation of "Antifa Groups"
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