Ambivalence among voters is reason to think about how democracy is working for us as a community. To keep democracy alive we need to be sceptical about the exercise of power and keep it in check.
Podemos must reconsider who is above and who is below – who are the people and who are the people’s enemy.
Podemos Uviéu/flickr
Podemos positioned itself as leading a revolt by the people against the political system. Now, as Spain’s third-largest party, it is part of that system and has some difficult decisions to make.
On September 15, 2012, a protest in Sydney by Salafi Muslims against an ‘anti-Islam’ film ended in violent confrontations with police.
Jamie Kennedy/flickr
One Nation has built on the racism of its original anti-Asian platform by linking Australia’s secular society to its Christian origins and presenting Islam as incompatible with this way of life.
Italians voted “No” by a convincing margin in the referendum on constitutional change.
In a climate of widespread discontent with Italy’s political establishment, a new election might wipe out most of the parties in the current government coalition.
A portrait of US President-elect Donald Trump guards a residential backyard in Iowa, complete with lights and security cameras.
Tony Webster/flickr
The better-to-do and the established of civil and political society have become complacent and deaf to ‘those at the bottom’. The working class has gone over to the right-wing populists.
Donald Trump descends the escalator at Trump Tower to announce he will run for president.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Donald Trump is the latest example of populism’s return to the global political landscape. Nine scholars from seven countries examine the link between populism and democracy.
Donald Trump is often described as a populist leader.
Reuters/Carlo Allegri
In this special The Conversation project, scholars and commentators from around the world examine the rise of populism, and its implications, now and into the future.
To date, Donald Trump’s campaign has offered us a powerful blend of hope and horror.
Johnny Silvercloud/flickr
What if, then, come November 8, millions of Americans cast a different vote? What if, come November 8, Americans decide to take the road less travelled?
Tea Party supporters have been demanding to be heard for a long time.
Valerie Hinjosa/flickr
We are witnessing the global rise of populism. Once seen as a fringe phenomenon from another era or only certain parts of the world, populism is a mainstay of politics today across the globe.
Residents of a Manila neighbourhood gather at the scene of the killing of an alleged drug dealer by police.
EPA/Francis R. Malasig
To understand Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power and the public support for killing drug dealers and users, we need to distinguish the empirical from the normative – the ‘what is’ from ‘what should be’.
Austrian Freedom Party presidential candidate Norbert Hofer took the far right to the brink of victory in the recent election.
Reuters
Radical right populists are on the brink of power in Austria and making gains across the region. And the European leaders who once were willing to publicly condemn them are silent now.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage was an architect of Britain’s seismic decision to leave the European Union.
Chatham House/flickr
The populist appeal of simplistic answers to complex solutions is a challenge for political leaders.There are times when expertise and experience must prevail over the popular mood of the moment.
Donald Trump is a spectre of things to come: of political performance in an age of projection rather than representation.
EPA/Tannen Maury
The faultlines in democratic politics are clear. On one side is a system of democracy that is bad at making people feel represented. On the other are anti-politician performers like Donald Trump.
The Iranian presidential election protests in 2009 reached Oslo.
Kjetil Ree/Wikimedia Commons
Election monitoring has become an international norm for maintaining electoral integrity. A new survey finds a world of difference between the high hopes and dire realities of poll-watching.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s London to Aldermaston march, 1958: an early example of mass political mobilisation to achieve a specific goal.
CND
Political campaigns today are presented as products of bottom-up participation, not top-down direction. But even if a campaign appears grassroots-driven, it’s likely to be run from the centre.
The first two stops in the travelling show called the Next American President did not lack entertainment. There were four different winners and plenty to talk about: some of the candidates cried foul…
Trump’s performances never fail to make breaking news, securing him the public’s attention.
World News Today/youtube
Donald Trump has applied the lessons of winning a TV audience to politics. Much as we might deplore the theatre of entertaining voters, we can’t wish it away.
Professor of Comparative Political Science and Democracy Research at the Humboldt University Berlin; Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network, University of Sydney; Director of Research Unit Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.