Many Americans report frustration with the two-party system, in which the Democratic and Republican candidates are seen as the only viable options for elective office. But an alarming trend in many state legislative elections is lowering the bar even further,

Losing democracy once can make it harder to restore it, even after a democratic government returns to power. University of Birmingham professor Nic Cheeseman analyzed three decades of data.

If you have your own encouraging examples of what democracy in America looks like, I would love to hear them. You can write to us at checksandbalance@economist.com. ■

CEO and former White House adviser Elon Musk is again wading into America's voting-rules fight, warning that democracy is at risk if Congress does not tighten proof-of-citizenship rules for people signing up to vote.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted Americans to join the fight against the axis of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan in 1940, without actually entering the war, he called on Americans to pivot their economy to equip democracies around the world.

There’s a refrain in Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis” that sticks with me, whether I want it to or not. | Opinion

We have witnessed two human beings lose their lives on the streets of Minneapolis, their deaths recorded before the eyes of the world.

The Cambridge City Council refused to award the Nathaniel Stickney House — formerly home to The Democracy Center — designation as a historical landmark after more than two years of contention over the facility’s future.

Early in his proprietorship, Bezos endorsed a new motto for the paper: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” It turns out that one of democracy’s most celebrated media institutions can be strangled in broad daylight.