Stories

Photo: Jeff Hitchcock (CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org
European Union
European Citizens' Initiative: Collecting signatures under a lockdown
While timely and necessary, the measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have had an enormous impact not only on our daily lives, but also on our democracies. In this series, we try to asses how democratic practice has been...
Hungary
Orbán's reach for unlimited power
On Monday 3o March, the Hungarian parliament approved sweeping emergency powers for the government, in its response to the Coronavirus. With no end in sight, no checks and balances and vague legal terminology, the Coronavirus-...
Courtesy of Tobias Nordhausen (CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Germany
Do we have to worry about democracy?
The first shockwave is over. The personal contact ban in Germany has been in place for two weeks now and is...
Mexico
New in the Community: Ollin
In 'New in the Community' we introduce one of the members of our International Democracy Community in more...
Article photo: Grand débat national organisé à Reims - G.Garitan (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
France
The 2019 Grand Débat National in France: A Participatory Experiment with...
Everyone remembers the Yellow Vests movement. Few remember the Grand Débat National. Yet, together they make...
Orly airport Photo courtesy of Naotake Murayama (CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
France
Unlikely allies: how the ever-divided French Left and Right triggered a...
In April last year, civil demands to stop the privatization of one of France’s public ‘’crown jewels’’, the...
Rafael Pineiro, board member of Democracy International, leaves a polling station in Kansas during the 2014 US midterm elections, with several ballot measures.
International
Long Life, Low Taxes and a Cleaner Environment: The Policy Effect of...
There has been no shortage of criticisms of direct democracy in general citizen-referendums in particular....
The European Pubic Sphere in Vienna
European Union
Behind citizen’s powerlessness: nostalgia, resentment and hope
With our eyes now turning towards Brussels and the upcoming launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe...
The ruins of the Panguna mine (Photo courtesy of Madlemurs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Papua New Guinea
Inching towards Independence: a bumpy road ahead for Bougainville
In last November’s referendum, with a turnout of 87,4 per cent, a staggering 97,7 per cent of Bougainvillean...
International
A world caught between protest and ballot
Never before have so many people around the globe taken part in popular votes as in 2019. Yet never before...
Copyright: Diego Correa (CC BY 2.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Chile
Constitution building in Chile: a long way to go
Since October, Chile has seen tremendous social uprising across the country. What started as a protest about...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Constituida_la_Red_de_Foros_Locales_%2804%29.jpg Diario de Madrid [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)]
Spain
Spain: a national democratic deficit and local hope for better times
The Spanish Social-democratic Workers’ Party (PSOE) has won the national elections on Sunday November, 10 (...