Journal of Democracy

The Journal of Democracy is a quarterly academic journal established in 1990 and an official publication of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies. It covers the study of democracy, democratic regimes, and pro-democracy movements throughout the world.

In addition to scholarly research and analysis, the journal incorporates reports from activists on the ground, updates on elections, and reviews of recent literature in the field. Writers published in the journal have included Václav Havel, the Dalai Lama, and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The journal is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

The editors of the Journal of Democracy commission most articles but do consider unsolicited articles. The journal does not perform formal peer review on all submissions, but some "are sent to outside scholars or specialists for comments and evaluation."

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 4.663 impact factor as of 2021.

Robinson further criticized the Journal of Democracys sponsor, the National Endowment for Democracy, for having funded the independent Polish labor-unions (e.g., Solidarity) during the 1980s. Robinson wrote that Poland was "targeted for destabilization" and NED-aided Polish unions "were encouraged to mount explicitly political actions, and to mount them against governments, not business management". (p. 103).