Developing democracy with urgency and resolve
The global political environment has become more fraught, and democracy is facing threats and pressures that were mostly unforeseen a decade ago, according to a new report. The field of… Read more »
Category: Democratic Governance
Democratic renewal can counter ‘Ill Winds’ of autocracy and complacency
Larry Diamond has spent 40 years circumnavigating the globe promoting democracy in Nigeria, Venezuela and some 70 other countries. Yet today he is aghast, notes Gary J. Bass, a professor… Read more »
Closing civic space – or changing civil society?
The trend of closing civic space crystallized at the beginning of this decade. In response, concerned international actors — including various bilateral aid agencies, foreign ministries, private foundations and international… Read more »
Political splintering and polarization creating ‘different swath of ideologies and interests’
This week’s elections for the European Parliament starkly demonstrate the limits of traditional European parties and their policies — and the splintering and polarization of the electoral base across Europe,… Read more »
Liberal democracy needs new strategies to prevail over populism
Populists have won nearly three in 10 seats in the European parliament, according to new analysis, which also shows how anti-establishment parties fell short of apocalyptic predictions, The Guardian reports:… Read more »
Tiananmen legacy? China’s new authoritarian equilibrium
In the realm of global power distribution, as in any area where human agency remains paramount, trends need not become outcomes, notes Andrew A. Michta, dean of the College of… Read more »
Mainstream must avoid populists’ Faustian embrace
Liberal democrats should avoid the populists’ Faustian embrace, research suggests. Cosying up to populists rarely ends well for moderates; political scientists who have studied such things have warned of… Read more »
Modi’s ‘majoritarian state’ threatens India’s multi-party democracy
This week’s election in the world’s two most populous democratic land masses — India and Europe — confirmed the global advance of ethno-nationalism, according to FT analyst Edward Luce, author of… Read more »
Democracies under pressure: how and why citizens are disenchanted
The idea of democracy has revolutionized the world. It is based on a political order whose main feature is making the exercise of power subject to the consent of the… Read more »
Populist right ‘has already won’ the European Parliament elections?
As voters prepare to elect a new European Parliament, Europeans feel disaffected with the performance of democracy in their countries. In six of the 10 European countries surveyed, half or… Read more »