Throughout history, whenever new technologies have emerged that change our means of production and ability to communicate they have tended to transform society. The rapid technological development of the…
This house has seen some corkers over the years.
davidesimonetti/Flickr
General elections are the great democratic leveller. Every citizen – however wealthy, educated or interested – gets an opportunity to pass judgement on the performance of the government and the direction…
Young people are dissatisfied and disengaged, but they’re not the only ones.
Dominic Harris/PA Wire/Press Association Images
We are becoming very familiar with repeated warnings that citizens in Britain are increasingly disillusioned with democratic politics, rejecting the institutions of national government, and leaving British…
Australia has had a consistently high voter turnout thanks to compulsory voting.
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Queenslanders will soon head to the voting booths to either oust or re-elect the Newman government and no doubt some will be wondering why. “Why must I vote or be fined? Why must I be forced to choose…
The ease with which a hoaxer was recently able to call the prime minister’s mobile phone, pretending to be the head of GCHQ, highlights a major dilemma for democratic political leaders. Cameron said he…
Ousted prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s impeachment is but the latest act in Thailand’s political tragedy.
EPA/Narong Sangnak
No-one should be surprised that Thailand’s former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, has been impeached by the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly. This was one more act in a political tragedy…
The Zambian presidential election of January 20, held to choose a president to eke out the late Michael Sata’s term, were conducted amid thunderstorms that struck the entire country. Thanks to the awful…
Corruption-buster Tony Fitzgerald is urging Queenslanders to lodge a protest vote against the major parties if they want to see real political reform.
AAP/Dan Peled
Tony Fitzgerald had a point when he recently urged Queenslanders not to vote for either of the major parties in the January 31 state election. The 73-year-old, who headed Queensland’s landmark corruption…
Time to take a chance on the European model?
De rödgröna/Wikimedia Commons
Don’t tell them this, but UKIP are the most European party out there. Britain’s democracy is increasingly diverse and complex, and with the growth of UKIP on the right and the Greens on the left its political…
Westminster: a cradle of democracy?
Tim Ireland/PA Wire
The BBC is marking 750 years since the first elected parliament at Westminster with a dedicated “Democracy Day”. Though Westminster is recognised as the cradle of representative democracy, there are indications…
Louise Mensch was one of the first single-termers to leave our current parliament.
Stefan Wermuth/PA Archive
All university admissions tutors know about single-termers. They are those students – some badly advised and intellectually bewildered, others more devious – who decide around mid-November that they want…
Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been defeated in the country’s historic presidential elections. Sri Lankans are shocked at the scale and manner of Rajapaksa’s defeat, which has brought his…
William III’s ascent to the throne spurred the genesis of human rights.
Wikimedia Commons
David Cameron is riding into the 2015 election campaign with a promise to finally fulfil one of the Conservatives’ 2010 manifesto commitments: to repeal the 1998 Human Rights Act, restore the sovereignty…
Tony Abbott promised a government of no surprises and no excuses. 2014 delivered anything but.
AAP/Lukas Coch
In 1996, John Howard offered this aspiration for Australians: I would like to see them comfortable and relaxed about their history; I would like to see them comfortable and relaxed about the present and…
Let’s face it: once a term laden with hope for the Middle East, the idea of an “Arab Spring” has become merely depressing. Assorted humanitarian disasters have followed in its wake – think of the unspeakable…
What do you say Dave — five more years?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wir
The UK is having what might be called a constitutional moment. In the wake of the Scottish referendum and after nearly five years of coalition government, the fundamental rules of the political game are…
Amid clouds of teargas, the Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Man’ defies police attempts to end the protest.
Wikimedia Commons/Pasu Au Yeung
The haunting image of a masked protester defiantly hoisting two black umbrellas amid a cloud of tear gas flickered across global social media platforms in the seconds and minutes after the Umbrella uprising…
Leading Australian media organisations launched a ‘Right to Know’ campaign in 2007, citing the erosion of free speech by more than 500 laws and regulations. It’s been downhill since then.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
I am reluctant to give more ammunition to Pacific leaders who regard Australia as some kind of exemplar in media freedom – in this case a bad example. On the other hand, truths have to be told: in Australia…
Police move in on protesters who marched on the Hong Kong Chief Executive’s office in some of the worst clashes in the two-month pro-democracy demonstrations.
EPA/Jerome Favre
The umbrellas were out in full force on Monday night in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong – but mainly because it was actually raining. A few hundred people, myself included, had shown up to listen to…
Time is running out for Hong Kong’s protest movement. Beijing’s last shred of patience has worn thin; police have cleared one of the protest zones in the commercial neighbourhood of Mong Kok, arresting…