Suthan Krishnarajan
Why do people committed to democracy explicitly support undemocratic behaviour by their politicians? Suthan Krishnarajan argues that it all comes down to perception. Sometimes, politicians establish policies that attract widespread support, but they do so in an undemocratic fashion. Citizens then 'rationalise democracy' to reassure themselves that politicians are indeed acting in their best interests Read more
Li-Chia Lo
Li-Chia Lo revisits Rongxin Li’s essay on the Confucian concept of Minben (people-core/root) to offer more context to the concept and to differentiate it from the Chinese concept of Minzhu (people-master). Lo argues that both concepts are different, and we should not elide them Read more
Rongxin Li
An orthodoxy in conventional democratic theory says that voting is all that really matters. Rongxin Li challenges the prominence of electoralism and majoritarianism in representative democratic practice. He argues that consultative democracy confers far more legitimacy on a decision than voting ever can or will Read more
Nojang Khatami
There are good reasons to consider resistance a central element in any definition of democracy. Nojang Khatami invites us to look outside familiar Western experiences for resources of dissent Read more
Fathali M. Moghaddam
Fathali M. Moghaddam puts forward a picture of 'actualised democracy' aimed at the equal participation of every person in all public decision-making. For it to succeed, today’s citizens need upskilling into 'democratic citizens' Read more
Anastasia Deligiaouri
Anastasia Deligiaouri argues that we should be wary of allowing incompatible concepts – such as 'illiberal democracy' – to dilute democracy’s essence. Rather, we must unravel and expunge the demons that lurk in democracies. By so doing, we will ensure this pluralism does not serve or fulfil autocratic desires Read more
Hilary Gopnik
A community’s material things can be active participants in the democratic process. Hilary Gopnik argues that the inclusion of materiality in Jean-Paul Gagnon’s science of democracy will broaden the range of the inquiry and deepen the texture recovered Read more
Stephen P. Turner
Stephen Turner argues that for democracy to prevail, we must transform the vague idea of 'the will of the people' into legal procedure. This issue is more important than ever in situations where bureaucracies, such as those of the United States, are suffocating democratic action Read more
