With frequent irregularities, it’s easy to become cynical about elections in Africa. But polls are an essential component of the continent’s growing democracy.
Stepping back from the current crisis in US-Russia relations, a Soviet expert asks: what’s in store for Russia in the long term, and is a peaceful transition possible when Putin’s gig is up?
Democracy and good governance require politicians to engage in reasoned debate, informed decision making and measured judgements. This presupposes rationality. Is this always true?
Thousands marched in silence against racial violence after a riot left hundreds of blacks dead and thousands homeless. The demands of black people in 2017 remain the same as they did in 1917.
Zambia has gone from a country where people engaged freely in open political debate to one where most people now look over their shoulders to see who’s listening.
Amid the rising forces of populism and nationalism, it’s easy to fear a new age of tyranny. But history proves tyrants are often no match against democracy and its defenders.
Tom Nichols’ book The Death of Expertise examines why the relationship between experts and citizens in a democracy is collapsing, and what can be done about it.
Musicians who learned how to play through a state-funded program called El Sistema are taking their instruments to the streets to protest the government.
The prevailing mandate of the South African Reserve Bank is informed by sound economics and the need to protect the institution from the whims of politicians.
Politics podcast: Gladys Berejiklian on the need to reform federal-state partnerships
With her government having just handed down a budget with an enviable surplus, Gladys Berejiklian says the Gonski legislation will leave NSW better off 'in terms of dollars'.
South Africa’s democracy is in trouble. But the challenge is less about who should control state institutions, and more about how they can be refashioned to deliver to the poor.