A woman votes in Zambia. Beyond multi-party systems and regular elections, many countries resemble very little of true democracies.
GovernmentZA/Flickr
Democracy is in a parlous state in many countries in southern Africa. Autocrats hold onto power, while electorates have little to choose from at the polls.
What is Westminster doing to MPs’ wellbeing?
Yui Mok/PA Wire
The internet has been the bogeyman of democracy over the last 12 months. It’s time to harness its power and redress the balance.
Russia’s supposed influence on Donald Trump’s election victory did not reveal anything about American democracy that Russians did not already suspect.
Reuters
Russian media both hint toward the Russian regime’s prowess in influencing the US election, while simultaneously treating the accusation as baseless Western propaganda.
President Obama and the cast and crew of ‘Hamilton’ in NYC, 2015.
iip-photo-archive/flickr
There are groundswells of civic engagement in a handful of countries, but ensuring the survival of fundamental freedoms in these dangerous times will require a resistance that knows no borders.
Protestors hold banners saying ‘No to the stigmatisation of civilians’ at a meeting of the Hungarian parliament’s justice committee, prior to the bill’s approval.
Laszlo Balogh/Reuters
FROM OUR ARCHIVES (UPDATED) Hungary has passed a law monitoring the finances of foreign-funded NGOs, another blow to civil society in Viktor Orban’s increasingly “illiberal democracy”.
Supporters of Marine Le Pen campaigning in southern France ahead of the second round of the presidential election.
Sebastien Nogier/EPA
Over 70% of Ethiopia’s population is under 30 years of age. This can be converted to economic muscle if policies are introduced to tackle the high unemployment levels in the country.
Ethiopia has been ruled by a coalition since 1991.
Reuters/Irada Humbatova
Corruption has become entrenched in Ethiopia because of the political dominance of a single party – the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.
Is Erdoğan (on the right) projecting himself as the next Atatürk (on the left), modern Turkey’s revered founding father?
Umit Bektas/Reuters
One protester was killed and several senators bloodied as Paraguayans rebelled against what they consider an unconstitutional attempt to extend President Horacio Cartes’ term.
By admitting South Sudan and Morocco to the African Union, the continental organisation has proven yet again that its commitment to upholding its own democratic ideals is lacking.
Officials check an electronic voting machine.
EPA/Raminder Pal Singh
Recent elections in Latin America have suggested a retreat from left-wing politics and populist leaders. But results from Ecuador’s 2017 presidential election suggest otherwise.
Turkey may soon become one of the few countries in the history of democracy to vote for the death of democracy.
Steve Evans/flickr
If the ‘yes’ vote prevails in this month’s constitutional referendum, the Turkish people may be in the rare position of democratically approving the death of their own democracy.