Democracy Lab Says Goodbye

Dear Democracy Lab readers,

All good things must come to an end. After five wonderful years, Democracy Lab is ceasing publication. We’ve had a great run, and we’re extremely grateful for our partnership with Foreign Policy and to all of you for sticking with us.

When we launched, popular uprisings in the Arab world had just awakened hopes that a new age of freedom was in the offing. Democracy Lab was committed to covering the ugly as well as the promising — but all in all, it seemed as though democracy was on the march.

A lot has changed since then. Today, liberal values are under threat like never before, even in countries where their victory had been taken for granted. For that reason, we believe that our mission — to cover both the perils and the promise of democracy — is more urgent than ever. That’s why we’re not saying goodbye forever. Though our funders at the Legatum Institute have decided to go in a different direction, we hope to find new support and to continue the project under new auspices, reimagined for a new and troubled era.

We’ve greatly valued all your feedback, criticism, and support, and we look forward to staying in touch in the years to come. So please don’t hesitate to reach out to Christian Caryl and Ilya Lozovsky at any time. We’d love to hear from you.

Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season and an interesting year ahead.

Best regards,

Christian Caryl
Editor

Ilya Lozovsky
Assistant Editor

Photo credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images