Democracy Local

COLUMN World War 3 Has Come to Your Hometown

Attacks by authoritarian national governments on their own cities aren't just local conflicts. They constitute a global war.

Jamaima Afridi for Asia Democracy Chronicles, courtesy Asia Democracy Chronicles. (Jamaima is also that story's author)

Your Local Community

Welcome to Democracy Local

Democracy Local Is a planetary publication and community of, for and by everyday people governing themselves. Here's a guide for how to subscribe, donate, and contribute Your stories, ideas, events, and data.

How Belgium Leads the Way

Belgium is a democratic innovator. What can the world learn from its example?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Sacramento_from_the_Waterfront_Wheel-2.jpg#/media/File:West_Sacramento_from_the_Waterfront_Wheel-2.jpg

How a Small City Won Big

Why you should root for small and smart West Sacramento, not its new home team.

California Ballot Measures from 2010 via Flickr by Josh Heller

This Poll Makes You Deliberate

A digital version of the Deliberative Poll encourages democracy, more cheaply.

Mexico City Is My Real Capital

In California, we're closer to CDMX than DC. And not just geographically.

How Culture Frustrates Democracy

Our patriarchy and economic obsessions have slowed democracy—and inspired backlash.

This file was produced by Ayuntamiento of Madrid, the City Council of Madrid, and provided through Diario de Madrid. Diario de Madrid website. Creative Commons CC BY 4.0.

Make Your Council Bigger

Better cities have bigger city parliaments.

Photo courtesy of Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Equality Publishes Final Report press release, December 2022. Creative Commons License 2.0. Via Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/oireachtas/

The Meaning of Irish Defeat

A Roundup from Barcelona to Nelson Mandela Bay

CC 4.0 license. Demonstration in Hong Kong north coast against pseudo-universal suffrage., 2015

Make Voting Rights Universal

Truly universal suffrage doesn't exist. Let's change that.

Photo Credit Photographer: Florent MECHAIN/TravelMag.com travelmag.com, via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0.

Waiting in Pain

In Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, Indigenous people tell Asia Democracy Chronicles that they are at...

Lead photo by Anders Henrikson, 2014 (Creative Commons license)

Please Don't Save Democracy

It's not a penalty shot. Or a dollar in the bank.