Julieta Suárez-Cao
The draft of a new Magna Carta in Chile proves that a constitution of and for women is possible, writes Julieta Suárez-Cao. But uncertainty lies ahead: polls regarding the constitutional vote on September 4th indicate it could be rejected Read more
Ryan Salzman
For Ryan Salzman, placemaking is a viable form of political participation that has the potential to meet or exceed some forms of traditional participation in democratic effectiveness. It is time we recognised these contemporary alternatives to traditional political participation so that we can truly understand twenty-first century democracy Read more
Timothy Hellwig
Timothy Hellwig explores the political crises in three European democracies (France, Italy and the UK) to argue that failures in constitutional design are at the root of their problems. These failures, moreover, are not dissimilar to those experienced in the United States, suggesting this is a current affliction of western democracies Read more
Nahla El-Menshawy
Legitimacy is as vital to the consolidation of authoritarian regimes as it is in democracies, where it is more studied. Nahla El-Menshawy illustrates how regime type, ideology, and historical legacies influence autocratic legitimation strategies Read more
Paul Emiljanowicz
Paul Emiljanowicz manages Participedia, the largest database documenting democratic innovations from around the world. To prevent reproducing coloniality, Paul writes, we must commit to expanding our knowledge about democracy and recognising the experiences and knowledges of all peoples Read more
Kiran Auerbach
What explains democratic skepticism in Central and Eastern Europe? Kiran Auerbach and Bilyana Petrova show that post-communist citizens’ low support for democracy is linked to dissatisfaction with the way democracy is practiced in their countries Read more
Brigitte Geißel
Most people agree that citizens are the sovereign in a democracy, but this principle is amazingly neglected when it comes to the design of democracy. Brigitte Geißel advocates for a new approach. Democracy means self-governing, so citizens should decide how to govern themselves Read more
Peter Gardner
Extinction Rebellion was created in 2018 by a small band of activists in Bristol, UK. By summer 2021, it was active in 79 countries across all continents bar Antarctica. Pete Gardner, Tiago Carvalho and Maria Valenstain argue that mass protest was key to the movement’s spread around the globe Read more