Democracy Local

COLUMN All Human Rights Are Local

As Nations Trample Rights, Cities Enshrine New Ones

Image credit: Rewrite LA

Everyday People Will Get Paid to Design Their Own City Council

Look for this Postcard in the Mail. Sortition Begins in Historic LA City Charter Assembly

Refugees resist on roof @ Berlin Gallery: www.montecruzfoto.org/31-08-2014-Demo-guertelstr-Refugees CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed

One-Third of My Neighbors?

The polls say the AfD has 1/3 support in my community. What does that look like?

Photo by Stephan Uttom Rozario

This Election Stole Christmas

Dhaka was quiet at Christmas—as Bangladeshis fear traveling because of election-related violence. (photo by

Aleksandra Wiśniewska (above), a 29-year-old political novice, who is now the youngest woman MP in Poland’s parliament. Courtesy of Aleksandra Wiśniewska/Instagram.

How to Win an Unfair Election

An exchange in Lodz reveals how the Polish opposition managed to defeat an authoritarian ruling party.

Polling place in Surrey, British Columbia (Canada) for global Khalistan referendum

The Global Vote On Sikh Autonomy

The Khalistan referendum is not just about the Punjab. It's a preview of a future with transnational direct...

The presidential and vice presidential candidates of Taiwan's ruling DPP party (Photo by Joe Mathews)

Can Democracy Survive 2024?

2024 is the biggest election year in history. That may be bad for democracy.

HK's District Elections Are New Target

More rules on district elections undermine democracy

Go to Bed, My City Council

Late-night decisions backfire

Reviving Brazil's Local Budgeting

Letter from Brazil, on the Birth, Decline, and Resurgence of Participatory Budgeting

A Peace Wall in Belfast, courtesy of photographer Stephen Wilson.

What Belfast and L.A. Have in Common

Democracy in divided cities requires remembering and forgetting.

The first gathering of the People's Assembly in Athens, Sept. 27 (photo by Joe Mathews)

The Next Democracy, On Athens Hill

Democracy was first built on a lot of loose rock.