Should a young person’s vote count for more?

To most people, the idea of ‘one person, one vote’ is sacrosanct, but could a case be made that in certain circumstances, some voters should have more of a say?

100 years of compulsory voting

Australia is one of the few democracies which insists on every voter turning up at the polls – does this keep our democracy healthy or breed complacency among the political class?

Strengthening Australian democracy

The growing threats and challenges to Australia’s democracy are well outlined in a new government report, and now is the time for some action

AI and democracy

The relationship between AI and democracy is the topic of increasingly urgent conversations around the world, but there are opportunities for policy makers to embrace as well as threats from hostile actors.

The birth and death of democracy

In their interesting, carefully crafted book on the problems facing liberal international order, Peter Trubowitz and Brian Burgoon argue that the geopolitical predicament facing the Western democracies is premised on their domestic politics.

Fear and loathing in Australia

Successive federal governments have called into question the values that lie at the very heart of Australia’s hard-won and cherished democratic freedoms.

Listen to the people

Although he once quipped that “You can never plan the future by the past” could the work of 18th-century political theorist Edmund Burke, famed for his cautionary take on the French Revolution, help modern democracies escape their current malaise?

The year of the fake election

Eight of the ten most populous countries in the world – Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia and the United States – will hold elections in 2024, but far from celebrating democracy, many of these exercises will merely rubber stamp the governing regime in polls which are neither free nor fair.

Reimagining democracy

Social media and artificial intelligence are often framed as threats to liberal democracy, but new technology could also be used to revitalise and modernise democratic interactions.

Democracy in decline?

The ascendancy of democracy seemed assured after the collapse of Soviet domination in Europe but after reaching a zenith in 2012, there are now fewer democracies, fewer people live in democracies, and most established democracies have veered towards more authoritarian responses.

Challenges to Pacific democracy

Democratic norms and practices have a solid foundation in the Pacific, but the events of 2022 prove that this cannot be taken for granted.

Tackling Australian corruption

Australia will roll out a new national anti-corruption body after the country recorded its worst ever score on an index that ranks anti-corruption measures worldwide.