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🌊 The Swedish elections: takeaways for the study of illiberalism

September 28, 2022

♟️ Autocratic legalism: the ‘silent’ authoritarianism

September 27, 2022

🦋 Minben 民本 as an alternative to liberal democracy

September 26, 2022

🌊 Far-right populism and the neoliberal exclusionary state

September 23, 2022

Indian Muslim minorities suffer persecution from revived Hindu populism and nationalism

September 23, 2022

September 28, 2022

🌊 The Swedish elections: takeaways for the study of illiberalism

The Swedish elections show that even the most liberal democracies are not immune to the rise of illiberal forces. Gefjon Off discusses the role of normalisation of the radical right, young men’s conservatism, and online mobilisation

September 27, 2022

♟️ Autocratic legalism: the ‘silent’ authoritarianism

All regimes have courts but through so-called ‘autocratic legalism’, autocrats leverage them to consolidate regimes without initially raising red flags. Akudo McGee argues that autocratic legalism easily flies under the radar because early warning signs of autocratisation are subtle. Indicators of autocratisation, therefore, need better taxonomies of authoritarianism to work

September 26, 2022

🦋 Minben 民本 as an alternative to liberal democracy

Democracy is unconsciously linked to 'the West', avers Rongxin Li, especially Anglo-Saxon-type governmental arrangements such as liberal democracy. Seeing how our planet speaks about 'democracy' to those who can hear it, all forms of 'democracy', like Minben, should be on an even standing with Western models

September 23, 2022

🌊 Far-right populism and the neoliberal exclusionary state

Across the globe, rar-right populism is on the rise. Its exclusionary nationalist nature poses a threat for liberal democracies. Taking Austria as a case study, Valentina Ausserladscheider explains the less obvious ways far-right populist nationalism can become deeply entangled with neoliberal economic policymaking

September 23, 2022

Indian Muslim minorities suffer persecution from revived Hindu populism and nationalism

The hegemonic rise of Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism in India has trapped Indian Muslim minorities. The secular Indian state appears to be developing into a Hindu authoritarian state, and one where violence against Muslims is normalised, argues Amit Singh

September 22, 2022

The Reagan myth is stunting the Republican Party

Comparing Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan has become the key trope of the Republican Party’s decline. Trumpism is typically cast as a drastic deviation from the golden standard of US conservatism set by Reagan. But according to Olga Thierbach-McLean, Reagan’s political legacy is the disease rather than the cure

September 21, 2022

The Queen's two bodies and the political power of metaphor

Kandida Purnell explains the significance of the transition between the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the crowning of King Charles III. There is a strange (yet strategic) legal-theological history and tradition which gives the UK's monarch two ‘bodies’. In doing so, it breathes life into the still commonly deployed metaphorical ‘body politic’

September 20, 2022

China's aggression towards Taiwan is more bark than bite

Albrecht Rothacher contends that China’s recent threats towards Taiwan in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit should not be taken at face value. An invasion of Taiwan would be a highly dangerous mission for China, carrying enormous costs for both China, the US and Europe

September 20, 2022

🦋 Democracy as a way of living

Sonia Bussu argues that the way we understand democracy has been colonised by ‘liberal democracy’ and capitalism. As a result, democracy is far removed from our daily lives. We need to free ourselves from these constraints to see the possible alternatives, which are embodied in democracy as a way of living

September 16, 2022

Nostalgia and anti-nostalgia in the Brexit narrative

We often consider nostalgia – the emotional sense that things were better in the past – as the opposite of future orientation. But nostalgia’s relationship with time is more complicated. Francesca Melhuish explores this relationship as it relates to Brexit, and how it helps us to understand the emotional appeal of temporal narratives of the nation

Latest Articles

🌊 The Swedish elections: takeaways for the study of illiberalism

♟️ Autocratic legalism: the ‘silent’ authoritarianism

🦋 Minben 民本 as an alternative to liberal democracy

🌊 Far-right populism and the neoliberal exclusionary state

Indian Muslim minorities suffer persecution from revived Hindu populism and nationalism

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