Newcomers have in fact proven much more successful at running as independents than big name politicians.
A demonstrator holds a placard reading “Macron, no no no no, 49,3 times no”, a reference to a French law that would allow the country’s president to pass pension reform without a vote in the National Assembly.
Christophe Simon/AFP
While the scale of the strikes in both countries is historic, a scholar in employer relations notes the legislative conditions framing industrial action in the UK are much more restrictive.
Protesters wave French trade union CGT flags during a rally called by French trade unions against the government pension reform plan in Marseille, southern France, on January 19, 2023.
Nicolas Tucat/AFP
French citizens have protested pension reform for the past 30 years. A historian explains why the evolving power struggle between the streets and the state does not bode well for today’s strikers.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, heads the closing session of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Joseph Eid/AFP
The absence of norms defining the common good and the insufficient place of scientific arguments in the democratic debate weaken the capacity of liberalism to face global threats.
‘Peace for our time’: British prime minister Neville Chamberlain displaying the Anglo-German declaration, known as the Munich Agreement, in September 1938.
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
Oversimplified versions of the past lead to bad political decisions.
A 1973 photo shows an estimated 5,000 people, women and men, marching around the Minnesota Capitol building protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
AP Photo
A historian explains why the pre-Roe anti-abortion movement was filled with liberal Democrats who opposed the Vietnam War and supported the expansion of the welfare state.
Neil Kinnock shows off his bowling skills on the campaign trail in 1987.
PA/Alamy
Kinnock lost two elections as Labour leader. Starmer could learn a lot from his successes and failures.
The Coalition’s debt truck from 2009, when net government debt was 6% of GDP – instead of the 30% of GDP it climbed to under the Coalition.
Andrea Hayward/AAP
The double standard goes back to 1929, when Labor had the misfortune to be elected 12 days before the Wall Street crash that set off the Great Depression.
A photo of Lake Pedder before it flooded.
Stefan Karpiniec/Wikimedia
In an effort to save Lake Pedder from a hydro-electricity scheme, the world’s first political party with a foundation in environmental values was formed in Tasmania.
Oliver Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament.
National Portrait Gallery
Australians coalesced around a strong federal government during the second world war. In recent decades, however, the states have taken primacy in people’s lives.
Click through a timeline to make sense of Australia’s long, tumultuous years of shifting climate policies ahead of next month’s international climate summit in Glasgow.
The elections of 1876, 1888, 1960 and 2000 were among the most contentious in American history.
When Frank Conrad broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential election, he had no idea that politics would be forever transformed.
Bettmann via Getty Images
For centuries, people largely read politicians’ words. But with the advent of radio, the ability of politicians to engage and entertain became crucial components of their candidacies.
Senator Joe Biden at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., announcing a new crime bill in 2007.
Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP
Donald Trump claims to the the law-and-order candidate and accuses his rival of being “lax on security”. Joe Biden’s legislative record proves such accusations to be false.
The fringe QAnon conspiracy theory has been creeping into the mainstream.
Rick Loomis/Getty Images
Australia’s island identity and attitude to border security was forged from handling pandemics since the time of federation. Here’s what we’ve learned along the way.