Against Broligarchy; Participation in Reverse; No Democracy Is an Island

News, Analysis, Events, and What's Worth Reading and Watching in Local Democracy

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NO DEMOCRACY IS AN ISLAND

Island cities and island nations can often be quite democratic. Think Taiwan or Ireland. But even when your community is an island, you don’t control your own local destiny. Which is why local governments, on and off islands, need the capacity and structure to influence far-away authorities and events.

Our very own Bruno Kaufmann has two island pieces up. First, he traveled to Greenland, in advance of that island’s local April elections. Bruno went beyond Nuuk to southern Greenland. There, he found, the desire for independence is the top local issue—and is growing as the U.S. and other powers seek to impose their will.

Not long after, Bruno made it to Ishigaki, a small island in the Western Pacific, not far from Taiwan. Ishigaki residents deeply value their commitment to peace, which extends back centuries. But Japan has imposed a military base on the island, to defend against China. And the mayor, under pressure from Japan, blocked a referendum opposing the base.

Meanwhile, Joe Mathews was on the island of Okinawa, where residents feel they are colonized both by Japan and the U.S. military, which maintains tens of thousands of personnel on the island. Local democracy there takes considerable effort. Our Local Snapshots feature looked at a convener in Itoman, a city on the south side of Okinawa.

REVERSALS OF DEMOCRATIC FORTUNE

Even during the 21^st century decline in democracy among nation-states, democratic practice often seemed to be advancing at the local level. But now such practice itself is under new pressure.

Behind this story are funding freezes in democracy assistance from the U.S., as well as expectations that major global democracy funders like the European Union and World Bank are preparing to pull back.

But the story is also local. Voralberg, the western-most state in Austria, has been a leader in convening citizens assemblies and other mini-publics. (Joe Mathews borrowed from Voralberg’s deliberative laws in drafting a model law for such assemblies). But with the right-wing gaining power, mini-publics could be scaled back or eliminated altogether. More details here.

Japanese prefectures, districts and municipalities are similarly finding it more difficult to convene lottery and deliberative bodies, organizers told Mathews during his recent reporting trip there. Japan has been the global leader in citizens assemblies over the past 15 years, organizing more than 150.

Democratic practice in Istanbul, an innovator in participation, is under extreme pressure with the arrest of its mayor.

In the U.S., there is no greater practitioner than Paul Jacob, the founder of the term-limits movement. But his home state of Arkansas is taking steps to eliminate direct democracy. Initiative and referendum also face existential threats in Florida and other states under Republican control.

This shouldn’t surprise. Democracy ebbs and flows. And even places that pioneered a form of democracy can lose it. Porto Allege, Brazil, famous for the creation of participatory budgeting in 1989, ended its process in 2017 (though there are now some efforts to revive it). Participatory processes have been tried and abandoned in cities all over the world.

SHOULD MAYORS REALLY BE THE LEADERS?

With nation-states failing to address planetary problems, it’s become commonplace to declare that “mayors should lead” on climate, inequality, anti-corruption, or other issues. Take, for instance, this declaration from European mayors meeting earlier this month in Leipzig.

The idea of local leadership is vital. But mayors are imperfect leaders. For one thing, they don’t stick around too often. Elected mayors lose elections, or leave office. Appointed mayors get fired.

This is why alliances of mayors are often quite weak. The planet needs linkages of localities working together, but it’s far better to make local residents and local technocrats, preferably with civil servant jobs that extend beyond one mayor administration, the leaders of such efforts.

TAKING ON THE ‘BRO-LIGARCY’

Nicole Curato, a professor of political sociology at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra (Australia), had people around the world talking after her keynote at the Political Studies Association’s Annual Conference in Birmingham, England.

Curato offered three points on LinkedIn to sum up her talk, which made the case for “how a truly global deliberative democracy can take on the broligarchy.

“We must reject narratives that cast citizens as passive victims of tech manipulation. These narratives echo old exclusionary logics and undermine the very democratic agency we need to nurture.

“Embrace ethical grey zones not as failures of democratic life, but as the very spaces where deliberation is already happening. From troll farms in the Philippines to ride-share drivers in Nigeria, people are navigating ethical tensions in real time, weighing risks and asserting dignity in systems designed to deny it. These are the frontlines of political reasoning under conditions of precarity and extractivism.

“Commit to building a truly global deliberative democracy—one that repositions the voices of those from the margins to the centre of public life. The next phase of platform regulation and civic infrastructure cannot be designed exclusively in Brussels or Palo Alto. Those most affected by systemic harm should shape the systems meant to redress it.

“Let’s not be fooled by nostalgia. There is no golden age of the public sphere to return to. For many -- women, Indigenous peoples, racialised and working-class communities -- it was never truly public to begin with. The task ahead isn’t revival. It’s reimagination.”

THE BEST OF ASIA

The wondrous team at Asia Democracy Chronicles keeps publishing more great pieces on local democracy and governance. Among these are reported essay on a Hong Kong effort to squelch worker rights and Delhi’s roadblocks to refugees.

DOCUMENT TO BOOKMARK\

The Democracy R&D network, a growing group (with individual and institutional members from more than 50 countries), has published its first annual report, covering deliberative democracy around the world in 2024. There are original pieces and essays taking us to examples of democratic practice in every corner of the world Too many good things to write up in one place—Democracy Local will see certain stories highlighted soon. But the annual report, an extensive and accessible survey, deserves a bookmark on your web browser. You can find it here.

WORTH WATCHING

• Khartoum, Sudan’s historic capital with three million people just three years ago, is now a ruin. It’s worth watching this heartbreaking France 24 report on Khartoum residents returning to the city. Khartoum needs to rebuild itself, with its people taking the lead. It also needs to make the nation-states responsible for supporting this civil war to pay the bill.

• People Powered, a hub for democracy worldwide, and its many friends and partners put on a terrific online event that looked at strategies for renewing democracy globally and mainstreaming participation. You can watch the full recording on YouTube and also view the slides.

• If you’re interested in building “caring cities”—cities that prioritize the health well-being of residents—the United Cities and Local Governments April webinar is full of interesting ideas. You can watch it here.

• Imagine Belfast was, once again, the world’s biggest and best festival of democracy and civic thinking (and good humor). Here is a link to videos from the 2025 festival, which concluded at the end of March. You might particularly enjoy the event, “How to Lose a Referendum.”

• How climate change is altering local and regional governance in the Maghreb. The event was held by the Carnegie Endowment—video is here.

WORTH READING

• DemocracyNext has a detailed new paper on the spaces used for deliberation. It could be useful for anyone convening a democratic process. Authors of the paper spoke at an online event—the recording is here.

• In the United States, local communities are being divided by culture war questions in the schools—and the resulting fights in local school boards. Ballotpedia, an indispensable source of information on governance in the U.S., has a new survey of school board authority that shows just how diverse local democracy can be.

• Is hope the enemy of local resilience? The Future Local Lab published a thought-provoking account of UK disaster expert Lucy Easthope’s insights on planning for local emergencies.

• Stanford Social Innovation Review has a very thorough piece on digital civic infrastructure, useful for anyone working to build or improving such infrastructure.

• How do you defend democracy from authoritarianism? Read the South Korea Supreme Court’s decision removing from office a president who initiated a coup. English translation via the Korea Herald.

• Did you make the list? The Local Government Information Unit has published its list of the top 25 thinkers in local government. Also from LGIU: how local government folks see the future.

• What will local government reorganization look like in the UK? The Local Authority substack answers the question in Kent.

• It's time for a fourth branch of democracy, write Josh Lerner and Marjan Ehsassi in the Boston Globe.

KIDS CAN DO DEMOCRACY.

In Moritzburg, a municipality in Saxony, Germany, third and fourth graders took part in a randomly selected assembly—the Children’s Future Council. The assignment was to come up with ideas about sports and sports facilities in their communities.

Their 10 recommendations, delivered to the mayor April 16, have a strong likelihood of being adopted—because they were quite practical. This report on the council says the kids asked for , “sturdy goals, better lighting, sufficient rubbish bins, rain protection and benches to rest on. In addition, the facilities should be regularly maintained, cleaned and broken items repaired.”

The children-deliberators built models to demonstrate each recommendation.

EVENTS

• May 2, in Asheville, North Carolina (USA), which was badly damaged by a recent hurricane. This free and public event co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies, and Asheville Art Museum. “How Do We See Ourselves in Each Other?”

• May 9 and 10. “The Next Earth: Computation-Crisis-Cosmology” at the Palazzo Diedo in Venice, Italy. With Antikythera, MIT, and the Berggruen Institute. Details here.

• May 14. Democracy in the Digital Age: Introducing the TWIN4DEM Approach. Online. TWIN4DEM, a project that uses twinning to build democratic resilience, is looking for participants (practitioners, scholars, media, activists, etc.) for its first online focus group. This is for people in Europe. You can fill out an online form to express interest: https://lnkd.in/gS_PgnFy

• May 21-23, in Cordoba, Argentina. International Observatory of Participatory Democracy conference

• Strong Towns has multiple events coming up that look at local governance, including on April 26 in Kimberley, British Columbia. The full list is here.

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRACY IN POST-REPUBLIC U.S.

• Democracy Local founder Joe Mathews, as a fellow in the Berggruen Institute’s Renoving Democracy program, is an advisor on the design of the state of California’s first-ever tool for digital deliberative democracy. It’s called Engaged California. The first use case is the aftermath of January’s Los Angeles fires. And the first phase involves a poll, using the Canadian tool Ethelo, asking open-ended questions to frame future deliberative phases. You can learn more and sign up here. Also: Mathews on Engaged California.

• Local transit is supposedly in a “death spiral.” So what explains this success of this North County San Diego train?

• The real president of the United States is subnational.

• All Californians and Americans are undocumented migrants now. Because all rights are provisional under the Trump dictatorship.

QUOTE FOR THE ROAD.

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." - Abraham Lincoln

SUGGESTED LINKS TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY RESOURCES AND PARTNERS

Democracy International and democracy.community

Asia Democracy Chronicles

Berggruen Institute and NOEMA

International IDEA newsletter

Zócalo Public Square

Democracy Next