Phil Paine
Phil Paine is reminded of the caterpillar who, when asked in which order it moved each of its feet, found itself ‘distracted in a ditch, wondering how it walked’. He suspects that there are misapprehensions about the role of definitions in advancing democracy Read more
Yida Zhai
Public perceptions of democracy are diverse, and some even see democracy in authoritarian regimes. So directly using ‘democracy’ in surveys is prone to elicit biased responses. Therefore, Yida Zhai argues, it is necessary to conceptualise and operationalise democracy in an alternative manner without using the ‘D-word’ Read more
Rongxin Li
Democracy is unconsciously linked to 'the West', avers Rongxin Li, especially Anglo-Saxon-type governmental arrangements such as liberal democracy. Seeing how our planet speaks about 'democracy' to those who can hear it, all forms of 'democracy', like Minben, should be on an even standing with Western models Read more
Sonia Bussu
Sonia Bussu argues that the way we understand democracy has been colonised by ‘liberal democracy’ and capitalism. As a result, democracy is far removed from our daily lives. We need to free ourselves from these constraints to see the possible alternatives, which are embodied in democracy as a way of living Read more
Hager Ali
When democracies’ most basic features lose their distinctive edge, differentiating regime types becomes a problem for scholars of democracy and autocracy alike. Hager Ali wants to redraw demarcations between regimes across the political spectrum. To do so, she argues that civilian control over militaries is just as fundamental as suffrage 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
Henry Giroux
Henry Giroux takes stock of the sciences of the democracies to argue that they offer helpful tools to contest the neoliberalisation of education and the teaching of democracy. The words of democracy, the ideas imbued in them, are vital resources for an age characterised by the desertification of public spheres 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
