Building Global Democracy

This study investigates the interface between security, at both the national and regional levels, and democratisation. The paper asserts that security and democratic governance are intertwined. The paper focuses particularly on the South African Developme

In a series of lectures in the early 1980s, Michel Foucault resurrected the Greek word for frankness or truth-telling-'parrhesia'-to investigate the inter-relationships and tensions that existed between freedom, truth-telling and political power. He concl

Today we're honored to have a guest blog post by Digital Democracy Advisory Board member Sean McDonald, taking a look at the US State Department's focus on Internet Freedom. Sean, Director of New Media Business Development at MetroStar Systems, brings a b

LIMA, Mar 18, 2010 (IPS) - A priest who is touring the country in his bid to run for president next year, at the head of a leftist movement, was indefinitely suspended by the Catholic Church for getting involved in politics. Banned from exercising any pr

A constitution for the UK may be emerging, typically in the form of an official manual. But what if "We the people" were to begin from the popular end of the debate? Here, Andrew Blick reviews a brave book that seeks to initiate that debate; while below

Most writers acknowledge that there are both positive ways in which inter connected civil movements can act on a global scale, and negativities that may arise as a result of this. Jan Aart Scholte (left) a leading writer on Civil Society and Globalization

This article examines how and why India, the world's largest democracy, remains sceptical about the idea of promoting its own political order abroad. It first lays down the historical background of India's long abstinence from promoting democracy and desc

The experience (as opposed to the concept) of homelessness is hardly part of the academic discourse in education, cultural studies, or human development. One of the central goals of our special issue is to create a bridge between homelessness as a persona

Has the last tide of democratization been replaced by a new wave of democratic reversal? Do two decades of international democracy promotion now have to compete with the promotion of authoritarian rule by powers that have resisted democratization internal

This article is about the conceptualization of democracy promotion in political science. It argues that democracy promoters in aid-dependent states do not influence the change and stability of political regimes mostly 'from without', as typically assumed

This article discusses three questions: what is the purpose of 'democratic' institutions and practices in Russia's authoritarian political system; how do these institutions and practices resonate with Russian public opinion; and how do they relate to the

Non-democratic regional powers are increasingly blamed for authoritarian backlashes in formerly democratising countries, or for the persistence of entrenched autocratic regimes in their neighbourhood. Yet there is a striking scarcity of theoretical delibe

Since 2007 an increasing number of articles have diagnosed 'freedom in retreat' and predicted a 'return to the authoritarian great powers'. Highly distinguished scholars warn against the 'democratic rollback', and articles on the resilience of authoritari

head of the Index on Censorship, which is Britain's leading organization promoting freedom of expression. We are delighted that he has chosen the Carnegie Council to discuss his new book, Freedom for Sale: Why the World Is Trading Democracy for Security.

This article argues that deliberate and unintentional external influences play both direct and indirect roles in advancing non-liberal democratic political rule. Specifically, it identifies four key external factors whereby Russia has strengthened Central

This article lays out and defends the role of political parties in cultivating a democratic ethos among citizens. It argues that citizens' commitment to the democratic idea of self-rule requires positive conviction of the worth of collective political age

In addressing democracy, equality, and justice together, we hoped to stimulate discussions that went beyond the sometimes increasingly technical and increasingly discrete literatures that now dominate the study of each concept. The papers fall, rather rou

This article argues that deliberate and unintentional external influences play both direct and indirect roles in advancing non-liberal democratic political rule. Specifically, it identifies four key external factors whereby Russia has strengthened Central

Last week brought news that the Egyptian government is circulating a new draft NGO law, one which would severely restrict available space for civil society and criminalize the activities of unregistered civic organizations. A coalition of 41 NGOs, headlin

This article examines the use of gender in constitutions and its significance for gender equality. New democracies, and some older ones, are increasingly including gender provisions in their constitutions. What is the impact of these provisions on women's