This document provides summaries of articles in the April 2008 issue of the Journal of Democracy. It includes short summaries of articles on developments in Africa, Russia transitioning to autocracy, a survey on freedom in 2007, China, European and US democracy assistance, and several countries in South America. It also provides background on the Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture series and a longer summary of the 2007 lecture given by Pierre Hassner on Russia's transition to autocracy.