Christopher Hobson
Christopher Hobson questions the value of Jean-Paul Gagnon’s proposal to build a democracy data mountain. The danger is getting lost digging up forgotten meanings of democracy, many now of little value. Instead, we need to focus on the present moment, seeking to re-imagine the meaning of democracy in today’s world Read more
Didem Türkoğlu
Massive student protests attract media attention, but less globally televised protests might also help shape policy-making, writes Didem Türkoğlu. Even lesser-known movements can build alliances and put pressure on opposition parties to 'own' activists' issues. To trace these influences, however, we must pay closer attention to local and national news Read more
Chih-yu Shih
Chih-yu Shih argues that we can meet Jean-Paul Gagnon’s democracy challenge across linguistic and cultural divides. He explores how 'critical translation' (aimed at 'relational' and not 'total texture') can yield results for those pursuing democratic commonality Read more
Martin Bull
Protests have broken out in Rome against the extension of Italy’s Covid Green Pass to the workplace. They quickly deteriorated into violence and assault, exploited by the fascist group Forza Nuova. This, argues Martin Bull, has reignited the debate about Italy’s fascist heritage, and led to calls on Prime Minister Draghi to dissolve the group Read more
Paula Sabloff
Paula Sabloff, in a direct response to Jean-Paul Gagnon’s democracy challenge, argues that to understand what democracy means, we need to know what it is for. By exploring this, we arrive at a meaning that is about means, not ends. And it is not as complicated as we might think Read more
Richard Rose
Using hands-on methods to diagnose the democratic body politic can identify parts that consistently function as they should and which intermittently don’t work, writes Richard Rose. This knowledge can lead to more effective remedies for intermittent ailments. It also guards against predicting the death of democracy from chronic disabilities that can be managed Read more
John Min
John Min accepts Jean-Paul Gagnon’s premise that democratic theorists should persist in studying the nature of democracy, and sees the goals of Gagnon’s project as admirable. But he argues that several methodological issues concerning the means of achieving those ends need to be explored Read more
Raul Gomez
Decades of secularisation have not done away with the influence of religion on party choice in Western Europe. To understand this, argues Raul Gomez, we need to look at how parties mobilised religion in the past, and how that still lingers among voters today Read more
