Some Trumpian construction projects go smoothy. In Vietnam, for example, the government has relocated hundreds residents to make room for a $1.5 billion-dollar Trump-branded mega-resort, and that project is well underway. But elsewhere in the world, the first family’s real estate deals don’t always go according to plan.

In recent days, Albania has been rocked by widespread protests that have shaken the foundation of the ruling prime minister’s 13-year tenure. The trigger for the unrest: A luxury resort that Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kusher are developing in the Balkan nation—and allegations that the Albanian government may have improperly ignored migratory bird routes when approving the 10,000-room project.

What accounts for the disparate fates of the Trump family’s various international ventures? There are likely many factors, but one is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: democracy.

In the last couple years, the president’s Trump Organization has announced a flood of overseas projects—in Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Romania, Australia, Vietnam, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and India. At the same time, Ivanka and Jared have announced their own plans for a Trump-branded development in Serbia and the non-Trump-branded resort in Albania.

“What do I need power for if I have to abandon the vision I have shared with you all these years?”

The backlash to those latter two projects—the Kushner deals in Serbia and Albania—has been particularly volatile; news of........

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