Stories

Hungary election
Hungary
The opposition understood the assignment.
The Hungarian 3-step plan to beat an authoritarian.  Autocrats around the world will study Orbán’s successes: how to consolidate power over time, how to reward loyalists, how to weaken watchdogs, and how to loot the state while...
LOS ANGELES
VIDEO: Can Cities Lead on Climate Change?
USC Panel Explains Why, Around the World, All Climate Action Is Local
BANGKOK
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES Across Asia, Youth Demand for Reform
Asia Democracy Network's 2026 Democracy Overview Tackles, Youth and Power Across Asia
HONG KONG
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES Local Crackdown on Privacy, Booksellers
New national security rules expand police powers to access encrypted devices and widen the reach of sedition...
MILAN
NOEMA Virtual Civil Society Is Coming To China
Teacher Li Is a New Species of Dissident
SACRAMENTO
COLUMN California Independence Is Here. And It's Working
From Climate to Human Rights, California Is Already Its Own Republic
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LILLE
REPORT The Global State of Direct Democracy 2026, Local First
The annual report digs deep on local democracy, and finds growth.
CC BY 2.0. Photo by Extinction Rebellion
READINGS
A Book of Democratic Briliance and Deliberative Myopia
Helene Landemore's "Politics Without Politicians" has the right diagnosis, but a narrow cure.
BAKU
NEWSLETTER Algorithmic Democracy, and Letters for the Future
Also: Making Citizenship Local, Proactive Localism; On to Cascais
los angeles map
LOS ANGELES
COLUMN Reform Isn't Enough. The City Must Be Refounded
Existential Threats Require New Boundaries, New Finance, New Civil Defense
Bulgaria town
KARPACHEVO
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BRUNO KAUFMANN? Karpachevo
A Bulgarian Village at a Turbulent Tipping Point