From Europe to Latin America and the US, former world leaders are being investigated, tried and even jailed. In theory, this shows no one is above the law. But presidents and PMs aren’t just anyone.
The desire of former TNI and police officers to enter politics has more to do with personal advancement than with advancing the institutional interests of the military or police.
The US system was designed with more checks and balances than many other successful democracies – the filibuster’s main function is to give undue power to a vocal minority.
Trump might have popularised the idea of fake news, but 26 centuries ago Plato and Thucydides were convinced intellectuals and poets were duping the people and undermining democracy.
Given the current, often erroneous, use of the term ‘fascist’ to describe political movements and leaders, it’s important to determine what fascism is and is not.
Simon Bridges’s attack on New Zealand’s ‘wokester’ police commissioner might work as politics, but it fails to grasp the nature of policing in an open society.
The truth remains that no artist through Nigeria’s postcolonial years has contributed close to what Fela did – and continues to do - for human rights and social justice.
Elections are getting less safe in democracies and nondemocracies alike. Last year was the bloodiest year for elections in decades, with 54% of all national votes marred by some kind of violence.
The vote to acquit former President Trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol is a symptom of the dramatic decline of the US constitutional system, which is being eroded from within.
Kurt Braddock, American University School of Communication
Language affects behavior. When words champion aggression, make violence acceptable and embolden audiences to action, incidents like the insurrection at the Capitol are the result.
Death threats against Republicans who oppose Trump are not just the result of angry people. They are, instead, an attempt to intimidate people into sticking with his movement.
Far-right extremists in the US have the potential to mount a coordinated, low-intensity campaign of political violence. It wouldn’t be the country’s first experience with domestic terror.