Populists like Donald Trump have used Twitter to his enormous political advantage. But the popular social media platform is failing to bring to heel the bots and fake accounts that can and have interfered with democracy.
(AP Photo/J. David Ake)
Bots and fake accounts on Twitter helped sway the U.S. presidential election in 2016. Here’s how the social media platform has purportedly tried, and failed, to combat threats to democracy.
The university’s most important strength is its intellectual independence, and the academic freedom that assures that independence.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Australian higher education policy debates focus primarily on how and by whom universities are funded. This diminishes understanding of universities’ democratic purpose and wider social mission.
Fewer than 20 countries worldwide have recognized the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s president.
Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Maduro’s landslide May 20 re-election marks the official death of democracy in Venezuela. Dozens of nations worldwide have declared the vote illegitimate, and the US imposed new sanctions.
Tunisians take to the streets to rail against austerity.
EPA/Mohamed Messara
Brian Grodsky, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Vladimir Putin’s recent re-election was bad news for democracy in Russia. And it’s a major loss in the struggle for liberalism, as anti-democratic leaders are assuming power across the globe.
When considering this question, we need to distinguish between the pomposities of monarchies and the purpose they serve as checks on untrammelled authoritarianism.
Malaysia’s incoming prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, waves a letter to the king.
EPA/Ahmad Yusni
Paraguay’s conservative president-elect Mario Abdo narrowly won the April 22 election. His father was the private secretary for dictator Alfredo Stroessner, who brutally ruled Paraguay for 35 years.
Mural in Karachi. Pakistan multiple identities cannot be reduced to religious fanaticism.
Wasif Malik/Flickr
Farzana Shaikh, Réseau français des instituts d’études avancées (RFIEA)
Pakistan has often been misunderstood to be exclusively built upon a national Islamic identity, ignoring the multiculturality and divisive role of Islam in the definition of its national identity.
Democratic schools are student centred, with individualised learning.
Shutterstock
By remorselessly crushing political dissent, Daniel Ortega has squandered his people’s goodwill and eroded his power base.
At least 28% of the female candidates won in the 2015 regional elections. The number jumped to 31% in 2017 (Table 1). But will 2018 repeat the pattern?
Mast Irham/EPA
Greek tragedies shed light into human nature’s darker corners. They can also illuminate the character of former FBI chief James Comey, whose unbending adherence to principles evokes ancient themes.
Voters can no longer check all the posts sent out by political parties in the past. That makes it harder to hold them to account.
Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro are both classic Latin American strongmen. But that’s where the similarities end.
David Mercado/Reuters
Bolivia’s populist leader has been in office for 12 years. He’s a thorn in the US’s side and an ally of the late Hugo Chávez. Now he’s running for a fourth term. But that doesn’t make him a dictator.