Diamond served as a founding co-editor of the National Endowment for Democracy's Journal of Democracy from 1990 until fall 2022.[5] As of August 2025, he co-chairs Hoover’s Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region Project (with James O. Ellis, Jr.). At FSI, he founded the program on Arab Reform and Development and the Israel Studies Program, and he co-founded and leads its Global Digital Policy Incubator.[6][7]
Early life and education
Diamond was born in Los Angeles. He earned a B.A. in Political Organization and Behavior from Stanford in 1974, where he was active in student politics and journalism and co-chaired committees on admissions and teaching quality.[8] From 1974 to 1975 he conducted interviews in multiple countries on democratic change and development. He received an M.A. from the Food Research Institute in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1980 at Stanford, working with Alex Inkeles and Seymour Martin Lipset.[9][10]
Career
Diamond taught sociology at Vanderbilt University from 1980 to 1985, researching Nigeria’s Second Republic and spending a year in Kano as a Fulbright Lecturer.[11] His work on corruption and electoral fraud in Nigeria informed later publications, including In Search of Democracy (2016) and Transition Without End (1997).[12]
He joined Stanford’s Hoover Institution in 1985. With Juan Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset he co-led a 26-country study on democratization, resulting in the Democracy in Developing Countries book series (1988–1995). This laid the groundwork for the Journal of Democracy, which Diamond co-founded with Marc F. Plattner. Together they also co-directed the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy (1994–2009).[13]
Diamond has collaborated with Taiwan-based scholars, beginning with a 1995 international conference on democratization. He co-developed the Asian Barometer Survey and has written on Taiwan’s political development, favoring strong U.S. support for Taiwan’s democracy and security. He has also co-led Hoover’s “China’s Sharp Power” projects, producing studies on China’s influence operations and semiconductor security.[14]
His book Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, published in 2005, was one of the first public critical analyses of America's post-invasion of Iraq strategy.[17]
Views on democracy
Although a strong proponent of democracy, Diamond has emphasized that its survival depends on effective and accountable governance, respect for the rule of law, and responsiveness to citizens’ needs. In his 2023 Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture, later published in the Journal of Democracy (2024)[18], he identified power, performance, and legitimacy as central to democracy’s endurance.[19] He has argued that weak economic or political performance, such as corruption, crime, or insecurity, can erode public support, while effective governance can strengthen democratic commitment.[20]
Diamond’s writings, including Developing Democracy (1999), The Spirit of Democracy (2008), and Ill Winds (2019), have highlighted both the promise of democracy and the challenges it faces.[21] He has pointed to threats from authoritarian powers such as China and Russia, as well as democratic backsliding within established democracies. His work defines democracy broadly, requiring free and fair elections, political freedom, and pluralism.[22] In a 2002 Journal of Democracy article, he warned about “hybrid regimes” or “electoral authoritarian” systems that mask autocratic practices behind democratic appearances. He has also criticized the failure to recognize such trends in countries including Russia, Venezuela, Hungary, and Turkey. His collaborative 2004 article with Leonardo Morlino, followed by a 2005 edited volume, offered a framework for assessing the “quality of democracy.”[23]
From his early studies of Nigeria’s First Republic, Diamond has underscored corruption, waste, and abuse of power as key causes of democratic breakdowns. He has argued that while economic development supports democracy, it is not an absolute requirement. Cases such as India, Costa Rica, and Botswana show that democracy can emerge in lower-income settings when supported by good governance, steady growth, limited inequality, democratic values, and a strong civil society.[24] He has warned that persistent misgovernance can push people toward authoritarian alternatives, particularly in “predatory states” where corruption is pervasive and wealth is extracted through exploitation rather than productive growth. In resource-rich countries, he has suggested distributing oil revenues directly to citizens to promote accountability.[22]
In policy discussions, including contributions to USAID reports, Diamond has called for tying foreign assistance to the quality of governance. He has supported the principle of “selectivity,” as seen in the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which conditions aid on democratic governance, investment in social development, and economic openness.[22] He has also urged the United States and other democracies to devote more resources to strengthening democratic institutions, media, and civil society abroad, along with promoting democratic values in foreign policy.[25]
Research
A central theme in Diamond's work is democratic consolidation, examined in Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (1999) and later essays. He has argued that stable democracy depends on accountability, the rule of law, effective governance, and public trust. He has also written on hybrid or “electoral authoritarian” regimes, where elections coexist with repression, and with Leonardo Morlino developed a framework for assessing the “quality of democracy.”[26]
His regional studies cover Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He has analyzed Nigeria’s democratic breakdowns, co-edited volumes on Taiwan’s democratic transition, and examined East Asian political culture through the Asian Barometer Survey, which he co-founded.[27] In 2024 he co-edited The Troubling State of India’s Democracy, addressing challenges to institutional independence in India.[28]
Diamond has also studied the international dimensions of democratization. He has argued that foreign aid and policy should encourage accountable governance and has critiqued externally driven regime change, as in his book Squandered Victory (2005). He has called for greater support of democratic institutions, civil society, and media worldwide.[29]
Since 2008, Diamond has written about the “global democratic recession,” linking democratic decline to authoritarian resurgence, polarization, and weakening institutions.[30] His book Ill Winds (2019) explored these themes, and his 2025 co-edited volume with Edward Foley and Richard Pildes addressed electoral reforms such as ranked choice voting in the United States.[31]
Teaching and public service
Diamond was named Stanford's "Teacher of the Year" in May 2007.[32] At the June 2007 commencement ceremonies he was awarded the Dinkelspiel Award for Distinctive Contributions to Undergraduate Education. Among the many reasons for Diamond to receive this award it was cited that he fostered dialogue between Jewish and Muslim students.[33]
Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency, Penguin Press, 2019 ISBN978-0525560623
In Search of Democracy, Routledge, 2016
The Spirit of Democracy, Times Books, 2008
Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, Owl Books, 2005, ISBN0-8050-7868-1
Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999
Promoting Democracy in the 1990s, Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1995
Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria, Syracuse University Press, 1988
Milani, Abbas; Diamond, Larry Jay (2015). Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran: Challenging the Status Quo. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN9781626371477.
As editor
Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries
Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World, with Marc F. Plattner
Will China Democratize?, with Andrew J. Nathan and Marc F. Plattner (2013, containing articles of the Journal of Democracy, written between 1986 and 2013)
Democracy in East Asia: A New Century, with Yun-han Chu and Marc F. Plattner
Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy, with Marc F. Plattner
Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran, with Abbas Milani
Democracy in Developing Countries, four-volume series, with Juan J. Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset
1 2 3 Diamond, Larry (2004). Essential Readings in Comparative Politics: The Democratic Rollback: The Resurgence of the Predatory State. New York: Norton & Company.
↑ Diamond, Larry (2008). The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
↑ O'Neil, Patrick H.; Rogowski, Ronald (2010). Essential Readings in Comparative Politics. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. ISBN978-0-393-93401-4.
South China Morning Post podcast in which Larry Diamond shares his views on Hong Kong political reforms in a podcast interview with scmp.com reporter, James Moore, on September 19, 2006. Interview 3mins 43secs into podcast.
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