Kei Nishiyama
Teaching democracy is hard work, precisely because we are living in a time when democracy is in crisis. So what should we teach, and how? Kei Nishiyama suggests that a grassroots, bottom-up approach involving teachers and learners alike will help us gain ownership of democracy – and fall back in love with it Read more
Jean-Paul Gagnon
For centuries democracy has had many meanings. But they have not been collected and studied as a whole. This leaves us, Jean-Paul Gagnon argues, with only a partial knowledge of democracy. It's one that limits our options for democratisation in an increasingly authoritarian world Read more
Carl Henrik Knutsen
Even today, there is no consensus on whether democracies or autocracies are better at generating economic development. Yet, writes Carl Henrik Knutsen, the best recent evidence indicates that democracies do, on average, promote higher growth Read more
Jun Koga Sudduth
Does the creation of nominally democratic institutions help dictators stay in power by reducing the risk of coups d’etat? Jun Koga Sudduth analyses and categorises different types of coup, and their effects. In so doing, she confounds the conventional wisdom that democratic institutions reduce the likelihood of dictators being overthrown Read more
Ruairidh Brown
The Kenmure Street protest in Glasgow raises crucial issues concerning political obligation in Scotland, writes Ruairidh Brown. This should serve as a warning to Westminster about the potential dangers of denying a second independence referendum Read more
Ruairidh Brown
The pandemic has revealed the importance of civic solidarity and public trust, writes Ruairidh Brown. But they function best in a context of ‘friendship', a concept which needs to be recognised as central to political thinking in a post-Covid world Read more
Jean-Paul Gagnon
The more ‘democracies’ you find inside a polity, the better it will resist anti-democratic forces, writes Jean-Paul Gagnon. If we stop thinking about democracy as a concept, but rather think of the ‘democracies’ and the degree of ‘demodiversity’ inside a polity, we can understand more about what might save democratic polities from current challenges Read more
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