Aristotle believed that the biggest and most widespread source of political tension is the struggle between the haves and the have-nots. More than 2,000 years later, he’s got a point.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Political debate
Displaying 1 - 20 of 37 articles
Three new approaches in the field of competitive academic debate offer ideas that could help presidential debates serve both their public purposes.
A psychologist explains how to reestablish civil political conversation in your own life.
It’s easy to perceive a political opponent as being uncivil – and that opens the door for an uncivil reply as well.
The only satisfactory debate arrangement everyone agreed to nearly 60 years ago largely remains in place today – the game show format.
Debates may help voters identify which candidate shares their views but they do not help them think critically about those views. That’s because presidential debates don’t live up to their name.
Hillary Clinton arguably lost in 2020 because she took workers for granted. Will Democrats make the same mistake again?
‘Phatic sharing’ reclaims Twitter as a truly social network, rather than simply as a source of breaking news or a place for public debate between politicians, journalists, and activists.
Any good political spin doctor employs a range of overt and covert tactics to get their message across. Here are some of the most common ones.
Measuring Twitter bots’ effects on the opinions of real people can yield surprising results about what makes them influential.
Research suggests people with a high degree of rejection sensitivity are 40% less likely to take part in political debates online.
Why don’t politicians just say what they mean? Because we might not like it.
The psychologist proposes reason as a solution to all our problems, but telling people they must do something can backfire.
Conservatives are often critical of ‘identity politics’ for silencing dissenting views. But on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night Malcolm Turnbull presented a very narrow vision of national identity.
We want our children to flourish. To ensure that they do, we need to help them develop their sense of good and evil, justice and injustice. Engaging in politics is crucial to this development.
Team owners’ defense of their players ‘taking a knee’ during the national anthem shows the vital role business leaders play in political discourse – one championed by Citizens United.
Differences of opinion are the lifeblood of universities and essential to advancing knowledge. But some universities are giving in to intimidation by cancelling events with controversial speakers.
Tom Nichols’ book The Death of Expertise examines why the relationship between experts and citizens in a democracy is collapsing, and what can be done about it.
Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron went head-to-head in the final debate before the second round of voting on May 7.
Politicians often mould historical fact to suit their needs, but the current PM would rather just forget the past altogether.
Top contributors
-
Senior Lecturer and Director of Debate, Vanderbilt University
-
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
-
Professor, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology
-
Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, International Studies and Languages, University of South Australia
-
Dennis Altman is a Friend of The Conversation.
VC Fellow, La Trobe University
-
Professor of Communication and Media Analysis, Loughborough University
-
Reader/ Associate professor in Media Psychology, University of Salford
-
Lecturer, School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University
-
Associate Professor, School of Communication, QUT, Queensland University of Technology
-
Assistant Professor in British Politics and Security, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham
-
Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Sussex
-
Professor of Political Communication, Loughborough University
-
Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
-
Professor of Management, Co-Director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management
-
Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
