Why Denmark is voting on its defence relationship with the EU – and what it says about democracy in Europe: On June 1, voters in Denmark will take part in a referendum on whether to end the country’s opt-out from EU defence policy, which prohibits Denmark from participating in EU defence matters. This means that …
How Chad’s involvement in peace missions held back democracy back home: Chadian soldiers benefited from foreign aids and training. Troop contributions to international interventions by authoritarian states pose a puzzle. On the one hand, participation in such interventions indicates support for a liberal-cosmopolitan order that entails the protection of human rights at an international level. …
Democracy undermined: elections in the UK are changing – here’s how: Many people across the UK will have their chance to vote in the imminent May elections. But only days before, new laws have been rushed through parliament, with amendments and approval (Royal Assent) occuring within the space of less than 24 hours. This means …
Pressure groups offer the best hope for South Africa’s democracy: Members of shack-dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo protest the alleged theft of COVID-19 funds in Durban, South Africa. Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images South Africans have learnt that democracy isn’t simply a destination that they reached with the formal end of apartheid on …
Democracy loses its glow for South Africans amid persistent inequality: Students chanting slogans during a protest in Johannesburg in 2021. Photo by Michele SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images South Africans believed that the introduction of democracy in 1994 would transform their lives for the better through equality of opportunities. This hasn’t happened. Socio-economic inequality and job …
Ukraine: a divided America seeks moral clarity in a war against democracy: Americans have been consumed by the war in Ukraine with intensive media coverage across news platforms. This is unusual. Foreign affairs do not usually consume the American public unless the US is directly involved and American lives are at risk. What explains this …
Boris Johnson’s bad behaviour: how declining trust in the prime minister affects trust in British democracy: A seemingly endless cycle of scandals has come to define Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister. This has peaked in recent months with the revelations about lockdown parties in Downing Street and Johnson being fined by police for his …
South Africa’s constitutional democracy debate: echoes of an inglorious past: A whites-only beach during apartheid in South Africa. Photo by Jonathan C. Katzenellenbogen/Getty Images Some prominent politicians from South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) recently questioned the role of the courts in the constitution. In January, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu insulted the judges as …
Fears of election rigging may fuel further abuses in Kenya: democracy could be the loser: Kenya election officials inspect voting packs at a holding centre ahead of the August 2017 elections. Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images As Kenyans approach a general election in August 2022, many lack confidence in the electoral process. According to a …
It’s no surprise liberal democracy is giving way to authoritarianism: In recent years, discussion of politics in the west has been peppered with ominous warnings –- democratic backsliding, authoritarian populism, neofascist movements and the end of liberal democracy. This is of particular concern in countries like the US, which spent much of the last century …
Capitol assault: the real reason Trump and the crowd almost killed US democracy: It was the moment that could have brought US democracy to its knees. One year ago, around noon on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump gave the concluding speech to a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC. Within an hour, protesters attacked …
Lindiwe Mabuza: feminist icon who used art to fight for democracy in South Africa: Lindiwe Mabuza (right) with President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018. Katlholo Maifadi/GCIS, CC BY-ND As the tributes continued to pour in for South Africa’s Lindiwe Mabuza, who passed away on 6 December 2021, it was clear that she will be remembered for …
Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar’s democracy figurehead could face life imprisonment in ‘politically motivated’ prosecution: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to two years in prison over breaches of the country’s COVID restrictions in the first of a number of trials, which – if she is found guilty of all the …
South Africa in the news: Constitution Hill’s Flame Studios: Reimagining and re-energising historic spaces for democracy: The Constitution Hill precinct is one of South Africa’s most visceral historical, present and future touch points. Originally a site of exclusion, struggle and oppression, it is today more hopeful and …: “South Africa” – BingNews Omicron: Pfizer vaccine …
Biden’s summit for democracy: what Africa needs to bring to the table: US president Joe Biden and Democratic Republic of Congo president Felix Tshisekedi at the G20 summit in October 2021. Photo by Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Seventeen African countries have been invited by US president Joe Biden to join nearly 100 other invitees …
What lies behind Mozambique’s failure to find lasting peace and true democracy: Displaced women and children shelter in temporary camps in Metuge, after fleeing from armed militants in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique. EFE-EPA/Luisa Nhantumbo Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975 following a bloody liberation war that lasted about 11 years. But independence did not …
South Africa in the news: The ANC must cleanse itself and reimagine Mandela’s vision of non-racialism, inclusion and democracy: This is a statement by Dr and Mrs Max and Audrey Coleman after being awarded the Order of Luthuli, Silver, from his excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa on 18 November 2021.: “South Africa” – BingNews University of …
What Star Wars can teach us about the decline of democracy: Stefano Buttafoco / Shutterstock Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away… democracy was in danger. Our current political environment is filled with threats to democracy, from the rise of authoritarian populism around the world, to the massive expansion of state …