Didem Unal Abaday
In Turkey, LGBTI+ events and pressures on queer people’s right to assembly face increasing restrictions. This, writes Didem Unal Abaday, will only get worse with democratic decline. In the new parliamentary term after the 2023 elections, democratic backsliding is turning political homophobia into state policy Read more
Anastasia Kavada
Anastasia Kavada's 'project democracy' grew out of the major protest movements of the 2010s. It centres around action, organisation and implementation, rather than deliberation or decision-making. Here, she argues that the project offers an understanding of democracy that goes beyond the familiar practices discussed in academic literature Read more
Justin Kempf
Many political scientists have analysed democratic backsliding. Justin Kempf shows how some are helping activists refine their strategies and tactics to challenge autocrats and the basis of their rule. This provides an example of how political science can do much more than just conducting analysis and providing simple diagnoses Read more
Giovanni Capoccia
The French President has pushed through his signature reform of the French pensions system against widespread opposition. Yet, argues Giovanni Capoccia, the fight is not over, and the stakes are high – and not just for France Read more
Abbey Heffer
Authoritarian regimes are not centralised monoliths. In China, authoritarian responses to protest can differ dramatically across localities. Abbey Heffer argues that research on regime-level authoritarianism often overlooks decentralisation. Studying aspects of authoritarianism, such as protest repression and concessions, requires a practice-based approach that reconciles national and localised authoritarianism Read more
Gabriela Patricia García García
Human rights organisations in Turkey face a predicament. In using the law to confront human rights violations by the government, they then experience those violations themselves. Legal mobilisation against democratic backsliding has its limits, argues Gabriela García García Read more
Sabine Volk
Germany’s largest far-right protest movement, PEGIDA, this month celebrates eight years of mobilisation and protest activity. Its survival, argues Sabine Volk, is a puzzle not explained by social movement theory. She explores an overlooked explanatory factor: PEGIDA's repetitive protest ritual 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
