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.
A 2013 election poster of current Armenian president, Serzh Sargsyan. Will the country’s transition into a parliamentary system reinforce his power or lead to a totally new government?
David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters
Mikayel Zolyan, Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences
Armenia’s upcoming election should advance the country’s transition from presidential to parliamentary system. But President Serzh Sargsyan may have a hidden agenda to retain power beyond his term’s end.
Public co-operation is not proof of trust in government. The Indian people did not trust elected politicians to represent them against top-down policymaking that caused enormous difficulties.
With the likes of Pablo Iglesias and Ada Colau coming to power in Spain, we are witnessing the rise of the ‘post-representatives’.
Barcelona En Comú/flickr
Spain has been transformed into a democratic laboratory, where the participation and use of new communication strategies are ready for experimentation and innovation.
Ecuador’s Rafael Correa is one of the wold’s top politician-tweeters.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters
When leaders of weak democracies use social media to connect with their constituents, people feel heard. But Twitter responses won’t give citizens what they need.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering during the India-UK Tech Summit in New Delhi. November 2016.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows how to use social media in politics. But the rest of his government? Not so much.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev (here in 2012) used to his best interest technology in an attempt to shut down any political uprising.
Shamil Zhumatov /Reuters
While Facebook’s Zuckerberg suggested as much recently, companies run like autocracies cannot fulfill technology’s promise of reinvigorating the democratic process.
Protesters post a hashtag to social media together to make it trend as they denounce policies of President Donald Trump at the Not My President’s Day Rally in Los Angeles, California February 20, 2017.
David McNew/Reuters