Nathan Brown
Conceptions of authoritarianism have broadened to include all nondemocratic rule. Unnoticeably in that process, the role of religion and religious institutions has declined. Political and religious authority interact and overlap. Nathan Brown argues that rediscovering how they do so will help us refine our understanding of autocracy Read more
Lucas N. Veloso
By stitching together new alliances, we can assemble united yet internally diverse collective identities, leading the way toward democratic transformations. Lucas Veloso explores the transformative carnival protests of the Brazilian mental health movement Read more
Zheng Guo
Single people are seldom recognised as a political force in intersectional struggles. Zheng Guo argues that, around the world, single people are a rising body who face widespread discrimination. Supporting single people's political struggles offers lessons in resistance and the intersectional pursuit of democracy Read more
Raquel Santos Fernandes
The less democratic the political regime, the more asymmetrical gender relations become. Raquel Santos Fernandes terms this phenomenon ‘gendering de-democratisation’. Based on data from Turkey, she explains how the process increasingly excludes women, and limits their experiences of citizenship in politics, in the economy, and in their intimate lives Read more
Jesi Carson
Feminist and justice-oriented design frameworks offer pathways to democratic transformations. Jesi Carson draws on her experience as design practitioner and researcher in collaborative projects including Participedia and the Global Classroom for Democracy Innovation to explore the transformative potential of design thinking Read more
Dimitra Mareta
'Democracy is in crisis'. We have heard this claim since the 1930s, and new terms regularly surface to describe democracy’s transformations through crisis. Of these terms, argues Dimitra Mareta, post-democracy and authoritarian neo/liberalism are the most challenging. While they describe either a strong or weak state, neither term captures the implications for the people living under such regimes Read more
Taina Meriluoto
To strive towards democratic transformations, we have much to learn from marginalised activists. They espouse ‘presentist identities’ to fight the dismissive categories through which other people see them. Presentist identities do not assume a past or a future. Instead, they make us simultaneously perceivable and free, writes Taina Meriluoto Read more
Brandon Mack
Democracy needs to recognise and empower our multiple identities. Brandon Mack draws on his activist experience with Black Lives Matter to argue for intersectionality and diverse histories as the backbone of democracy Read more
