A bad year for the bad guys

The death-knell for democracy is always being tolled, but the weakness and folly of authoritarian rule has proved itself this year, epitomised by the Russian dictator’s disastrous invasion of its democratic neighbour, Ukraine.

Democracy v the dictators

Just as autocracies ally with each other to stay in power, so the world’s democracies must unite against the current tide of tyranny.

The end of democracy?

A number of social, international and technological trends are converging to threaten the democracy and social cohesion we have taken for granted for decades.

#Democracy

There are two common ways of thinking about democracy in the online era. First, the internet is a liberation technology and will usher in an era of global democracy. Second, you can have social media or democracy, but not both.

Celebrating Australian democracy

In seeking to safeguard our democracy, we must consider the extent to which Australians’ long-standing apathy about our democratic system allowed Morrison to treat it with such contempt.

Standing up the the strong men

The threat posed by authoritarian states demands a robust response from the world’s democracies and we must not allow their victims to fight on alone.

Don’t believe the hype

From authoritarian propaganda to virtual reality and non-fungible tokens, reality must increasingly compete with the unreal for attention and credibility.

Confronting state fragility and democratic decline

The return of strategic competition between states is an established geopolitical trend, but states themselves are getting more fragile, according to the 2021 Fund for Peace Fragile States Index.

The gen-Y democracy gap

New research finds there’s democracy gap for young Australian adults, with a distrust of traditional politics but a focus on civic mindedness.

Revitalising Australian democracy

Today’s “International Day of Democracy” and Joe Biden’s forthcoming Summit for Democracy should prompt a greater focus on renewing Australia’s democratic system.

Nurturing the deep roots of democracy

The widely accepted story that democracy was a brilliant, even miraculous, invention of 5th-century BCE Athens, and that the West is the heir to that moment in time, has obscured the universal hard work that’s required to make democracy work well.

Australia needs a civics lesson

Although the law will compel them to vote, young people remain ill-equipped to participate in Australian democracy.