Shreeya Patil
Soft power diplomacy has always been important to India, as the world’s largest democracy, with a rich heritage, culture and ambitious aspirations. This has never more so than under the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Shreeya Patil explores the different facets of this important form of diplomacy Read more
Matthijs Bogaards
Can we see autocracy more clearly if we see it as the opposite of democracy? Or do we need to look at autocracy as a category in its own right? Matthijs Bogaards provides an answer through a critical examination of the concept of defective autocracy, the mirror of defective democracy. Read more
Alex Prior
What does a coastline have in common with effective rhetoric? Each component resembles something bigger, and bigger, and bigger. And what can this sort of fractal pattern show us about politics? To Alex Prior, fractals illustrate successful representation, and the impulses that drive it Read more
Adrián del Río
Since the 80s, electoral autocracy has been considered the most common form of dictatorship. Yet, as Adrián del Río shows, little is known about what this regime is and how we can recognise it. There is, in fact, only a 34% probability of datasets agreeing on examples Read more
Gefjon Off
Evidence from Sweden shows that feminist mobilisations, such as #MeToo, can trigger a conservative backlash against gender equality and LGBTQI+ rights. This then fuels support for the radical right, argues Gefjon Off Read more
Sergio Ricardo Quiroga
Kirchnerism emerged from Argentine Peronism, spearheaded by Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Since 2003, it has built a cultural and political hegemony that denies Argentinian citizens their political and civil liberties, writes Sergio Quiroga. Read more
Martin Bull
The Italian Five Star Movement has undergone a formidable split, with former leader Luigi di Maio walking out with 60 parliamentarians and forming a new party. This, and declining popularity in opinion polls, marks the twilight of Five Star’s decade-long success – and possibly the end of populist politics in Italy, writes Martin Bull Read more
Christoph Arndt
Recent European elections have revealed that voters are increasingly polarised on environmental protectionism. Christoph Arndt, Daphne Halikiopoulou and Christos Vrakopoulos contend that local opposition to climate change measures is reinforcing a centre-periphery cleavage in Western Europe Read more
